Human Rights First: Reflections from the Mobilization on Human Rights and Drug Policy Conference

Nordic countries have traditionally governed drug use and related policies either as criminal or health-related issues – an approach described as a dual-track model. Far less attention has been paid on human rights perspectives in the Nordic drug policy context. Internationally, human rights challenges in drug policies have been increasingly addressed by civil society organizations representing people who use drugs, as well as harm reduction actors. In 2026, the human rights perspective was brought on the Nordic political agenda more prominently than before as, for the first time, the Nordic civil society organizations representing people who use drugs held a joint international conference on the human rights theme. This report provides notes from the conference and discusses current international and Nordic debates on drug policy as a human rights issue.