Keeping in mind the results of the conferences held in Buenos Aires (2009), Rio de Janeiro (2010), Mexico City (2011) and Bogotá (2012), organized by Intercambios Asociación Civil, the CONFEDROGAS Consortium was constituted in May 2013, with the objective of ensuring and strengthening the initiative of the Latin American Conferences on Drug Policies.
The mission of the CONFEDROGAS Consortium is the organization of the Latin American Conferences on Drug Policies, which take place in different cities of Latin America, with a biannual periodicity. In 2014, the Conference was held in San José (Costa Rica) and in 2016 in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).
The CONFEDROGAS Consortium is made up of six NGOs: AECID, ATS, COIN, Intercambios AC, TNI and WOLA, and its Executive Secretariat is in charge of Intercambios AC, which acts on its behalf.
The member NGOs make their experience and institutional structure available to the CONFEDROGAS Consortium, namely:
Acción Técnica Social (ATS)
is an organization recognized nationally and internationally as a front of the line and realistic organization in the analysis and approach of the phenomenon of the consumption of psychoactive substances (SPA). Their technical and political actions are supported based on the evidence generated by the projects they develop. They are pioneers in programs of access to hygienic material of injection in Colombia, services of analysis of substances for public health and interventions within spaces of celebration and leisure. Currently maintains fluid relationships with international platforms, local civil society organizations, and the Ministries of Health and Justice in Colombia.
Asociación Costarricense para el Estudio e Intervención en Drogas (ACEID)
is a non-profit organization that began its work at the end of 2012 and was legally constituted at the beginning of 2013, formed by a group of professionals, artists and activists interested in the transformation of drug policies in Costa Rica with an approach and focus on human rights. Its mission is to reduce the stigmatization and discrimination suffered by drug users, as well as the risks and damages associated with the supply and demand of illicit substances. Its main objectives are: 1. To contribute to the transformation and strengthening of public drug policies based on a human rights approach. 2. Provide theoretical and practical contributions in order to reduce the stigmatization and discrimination suffered by people who use drugs. 3. Promote the development of social research on drug-related problems, in order to produce scientific evidence that supports political and technical decision-making. 4. Promote the production, exchange and dissemination of information to reduce the risk and reduce the damage caused by drug consumption and trafficking. 5. Promote the change of attitudes and the development of new skills of those who work directly with populations affected by drugs. 6. Encourage collaboration and partnership between institutions and other social actors.
Intercambios, civil association for the study and attention of problems related to drugs
is a non-governmental organization created in the city of Buenos Aires in 1995. Its institutional mission aims to contribute, in the framework of human rights, to the construction and application of knowledge of the problems related to drugs. Intercambios recognizes that the stigmatization and discrimination associated with these social problems, in many cases, generate practices that violate the rights of individuals, which is why their actions are part of the ethical horizon of the defense of human rights, social commitment and scientific rigor. Intercambios is a key organization in Latin America on issues of harm reduction and drug policy. It develops actions of political incidence, research, distribution of information and training development, in association with other regional actors, with the objective of influencing governmental and multilateral drug policies. Consecutively since 2003, Intercambios civil association organizes the Argentine Conference on Drug Policies, and has organized in partnership with local institutions, four Latin American Conferences on Drug Policies, in different countries of the region.
Transnational Institute (TNI)
was created in 1974 as an international network of activist-researchers dedicated to the critical analysis of global problems, both present and future, with the vision to providing intellectual support to movements that fight for a more democratic, equitable and environmentally friendly and sustainable world. The TNI Drug and Democracy program has been analyzing global trends in the illegal drug market and drug policies since 1996. The program has gained an international name as one of the leading drug policy research institutes and as a critical observatory of the UN drug control institutions, especially the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). During the last decade, the Drug and Democracy program has focused mainly on the development of drug policies and their repercussions for the countries of the South. Its strategic objective is to contribute to a more integrated and coherent policy, in which illegal drugs are seen as a crosscutting issue within the broader framework of the objectives of poverty reduction and sustainable development, promotion of public health, protection of human rights, peace building and good governance. It conducts research within the field, develops high quality analyzes and coordinates international conferences with the dual objective of informing policymakers and the press, and of promoting political debates.
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
promotes human rights, democracy and social justice through working together with local counterparts in Latin America and the Caribbean to influence policies in the United States and abroad, by analyzing regional events, patterns, challenges, and acting quickly to ensure that a wide variety of voices are heard. WOLA’s trajectory of listening to Latin American voices motivates human rights defenders, democracy advocates and other activists working for social justice to turn to WOLA with local information and other perspectives. WOLA influences public debate and puts new issues on the table through work with the media, the promotion of public events with academics, officials and activists, and through the research, analysis and comments of a team with decades of accumulated experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. The availability of WOLA’s online resources, its events, reports and memos, as well as the organization of delegations to and from the region to Washington are sources of timely and reliable information for journalists, academics, policy makers and the general public. WOLA is a key resource for civil society organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean, working closely with local counterparts in the region for the construction of coalitions, through research, advocacy campaigns and participation in public policy debates. In terms of drug policy, WOLA advocates for the reduction of the damage caused by both the drug trade and the erroneous war on drugs, and works to promote, across the continent, drug policies that protect human rights and public health.
The Center for Orientation and Integral Research (COIN)
is a nonprofit, organization of social interest of the Dominican Republic, created on November 28, 1988 by a multidisciplinary team of people with shared experience in community and health work. COIN was born as a result of the emergent epidemic of HIV / AIDS, and human trafficking in the Dominican Republic; since then, it has concentrated its efforts on implementing educational programs on prevention and health care, fighting the social discrimination to which groups marginalized by society are subject to, as a way to implement innovative, effective strategies with these groups, while contributing to their empowerment.