Beatrix Vas is the Drug Policy Coordinator of UNITE. A member of Youth RISE, she is an active youth organizer for drug policy reform and harm reduction. Passionate about the involvement of communities in policymaking, she serves on the Board of the Vienna and New York NGO Committees on Drugs.

At the global level, the drug policy reform debate continues to broaden and the number of countries implementing new and different approaches to drug control towards better public health outcomes is on the increase. Building on this momentum, the Drug Policy Desk of UNITE was established in 2020 to serve as a hub to assist Parliamentarians and elected officials in promoting policy approaches for better public health and human rights outcomes.

UNITE is a non-profit, non-partisan, global network of current and former members of parliament from multinational, national, state, and regional Parliaments, Congresses, and Senates, committed towards the promotion of efficient and sustainable policies for improved global health systems, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Promoting human rights and equitable access to health is at the core of our activities. Our members work to ensure that everyone, everywhere can achieve the highest attainable standard of health, with an emphasis on vulnerable and marginalized populations facing greater difficulties in access to health services.

The Drug Policy Desk is uniquely positioned within UNITE’s network to provide parliamentary engagement support and accompany legislators who seek to explore responses to drug-related policy issues, to promote evidence-based reform and to energize national debates on drug policy.

We foster exchanges between an increasingly diverse group of parliamentarians and a wide range of stakeholders, building bridges between communities and civil society, experts, academia, governments, international organizations.

In my presentation, I will share the lessons learned from the regional and global dialogues cultivated within the network, highlighting opportunities in how legislators can learn from each other, build coalitions of expertise and leadership and work in synergy with community advocates to overcome challenges in drug policy reform.