Youth, Drugs, and Organized Crime: Challenges, Questions and Answers

The global use and trade of drugs poses a major challenge for governments around the world. Drug trafficking has significant implications on the health, well-being and functioning of societies, which is why tackling this problem has become a cornerstone for many governments around the world.

As A. Lale-Demoz, Deputy Director of UNODC, puts it: “It is very difficult to envision a future where health, where justice works, where communities are more sustainable, if you do not take into account… the phenomenon of international drug trafficking”.

It is essential to have open and inclusive discussions among policy makers and experts working in the field to formulate future strategies relying on evidence based information and research. A crucial question in this regard is about the involvement of young people in the response to the global trafficking of drugs.

Watch and listen to the opinions of representatives of governments, international organizations, NGOs and civil society as they explain why new approaches are necessary, and why the inclusion of youth in this discussion is so important.

The video was filmed during a two-day, annually held OSCE drugs conference on 10 and 11 September 2015 in Vienna, which brought together relevant bodies of national drug enforcement agencies, representatives from youth initiatives and civil society organizations as well as other relevant international and regional organizations.