IDPC Progress Report 2025-2026

Foreword

Welcome to IDPC’s Progress Report for 2025 to 2026 – a period in which we also celebrate our network’s 20th anniversary! Once again – in spite of a global backdrop of political regression, funding cuts and geo-political fracture – the IDPC network has continued to demonstrate its resilience and power, and we have achieved key milestones towards our collective vision that drug policies around the world should advance social justice and human rights. This report highlights just some of the successes from the previous 12 months, and reflects the hard work, passion and professionalism of the IDPC Secretariat, members and partners.

20 years ago, a group of leading drug policy experts gathered at the UK House of Lords to discuss the need for a global network to promote, coordinate and accelerate policy reform efforts. At this event IDPC was conceived, and it is perhaps fitting that, in our 20th anniversary year, the network grew to more than 200 member organisations from across 75 countries, supported by a Secretariat spanning Ghana, the Netherlands, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

The founders of IDPC had an ambitious mission when they set out: to coalesce civil society and community groups from all over the world to profoundly and positively impact drug policies at the UN, regional and national levels. After two decades, IDPC is a diverse, strongly collaborative network with a credible influential voice in global drug policy debates. Despite recent challenges in the funding and political landscapes, the IDPC network continues to make our voices heard ever louder against a deeply entrenched war on drugs, and together we have irreversibly shifted drug policies and narratives. It is a good moment to take stock of all that has been achieved, but we also know that this work must continue.

This Progress Report highlights the impact of working in solidarity: from another blockbuster year for the Support. Don’t Punish campaign; to the adoption of the strongest drug-related commitments to date at the Human Rights Council; to the co-delivery of the Brandenburg Forum series bringing together governments, UN officials, civil society and communities; to the impactful advocacy work in Asia; and so much more. These achievements are collective, and we would like to especially thank our members, our committed donors, our Board and Members Advisory Council, and the Secretariat team.

This Report also comes at a unique and exciting juncture for IDPC as, after 15 years as the Executive Director, Ann has decided to step down and support a transition to new leadership for this amazing network – a process which was completed at the end of July 2026. Ann leaves with great pride in what we have built together and is deeply grateful for the extraordinary journey with IDPC, having grown a nascent network of less than 30 members to the strong, influential global voice on drug policy that it is today. She feels confident that the IDPC network and the broader drug policy reform movement will continue to tear down the walls of prohibition.

From August 2026, Jamie takes up the role of IDPC’s new Executive Director, with Marie Nougier becoming the new Deputy Director. Jamie has been with IDPC since 2013, and Marie initially started as IDPC’s first-ever volunteer 17 years ago. Their role is clear: to continue supporting, growing and promoting our global network, to keep opening spaces for engagement, and to keep championing more humane policies.

In turbulent geopolitical times, the IDPC network must continue exceeding expectations and shaping the movement. This collective work is more important than it has ever been.

In solidarity,

Ann Fordham, outgoing Executive Director, and Jamie Bridge, incoming Executive Director

Message from the Chair of the Board

In 2026, IDPC turned twenty. Two decades ago, a small group of people believed civil society deserved a coordinated, credible voice in global drug policy. That bet paid off: over 200 member organisations in more than 70 countries, and a conversation shifted from punishment and stigma towards health, dignity and human rights.

This year tested that. Civic space keeps narrowing, armed conflicts are tearing apart much of the world, and the ‘war on drugs’ continues to be repackaged – now as counter-narcoterrorism – to justify killings at sea and repression at home.

Funding cuts also forced very hard choices in our own reorganisation, but thankfully, IDPC stands on a solid financial situation for the coming years. As a result, Ann Fordham stepped down after years of transformative leadership, and Jamie Bridge stepped into the Executive Director role: a transition that took the Board months of careful work, and one we are confident in. Ann, thank you. Jamie, the stage is yours.

And despite everything, we gained ground. In Geneva, after more than a decade of patient advocacy, the Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 60/26, recognising drug policy as a human rights issue in its own right. In Southeast Asia, our members opened ASEAN's first regional training on human rights and drug policy. Support. Don’t Punish mobilised people power once again. None of this was inevitable; all of it was organised by – and thanks to – the Secretariat, our members and our donors, who are the backbone of everything.

As Ann once said: Our strength has always been a refusal to be naive paired with an equally firm refusal to become cynical. Twenty years in, we are not tired. We are more determined than ever.

Tomás A. Chang Pico, Chair of the Board

Message from the Members Advisory Council

It has been 20 years since IDPC and Youth RISE were both founded in 2006, and this year's Progress Report, with its many wins, small and large, is a testament to the resilience and force of our movement as a whole.

IDPC has been a guiding light in drug policy, and for youth-led organisations, which can struggle with institutional memory, it has been fundamental to navigating this complex system: knowing what came before, how key stakeholders have ebbed and flowed, and what has and hasn't worked. As Youth RISE and others branch into untapped advocacy spaces at the UN and regionally, IDPC's bank of knowledge has helped us engage strategically with bodies beyond the usual drug policy arenas.

But the relationship is always bi-directional: through bodies like the Members Advisory Council, IDPC structurally embeds its membership’s input into its work, passing the mic to those who should be centre stage. This past year, for us youth organisations, that included youth-specific sections in both Advocacy Notes for the CND Expert Panel. And its quieter work, in helping members with administration and fundraising – such as through the Dave Bewley Mentorship Programme – allows youth organisations to sustain ourselves and build the next generation of drug policy reform advocates.

Ruby Lawlor, Representative of IDPC’s Members Advisory Council, Youth RISE

IDPC Progress Report 2025-2026

Foreword

Message from the Chair of the Board

Message from the Members Advisory Council

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