It sounds a bit ominous. A little tin hatty even. But this isn’t some big underhanded conspiracy, this is the good kind of agenda. The kind that recognises that there’s a LOT wrong with the world we’re living in (communities) and on (the planet). The kind that has gathered folk from around the globe to put their heads together to come up with realistic and achievable goals.

To start with, what is an SDG?

It is a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal

There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets as part of The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The United Nations recognises that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. All countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan.

These SDGs are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

The Goals

What’s this got to do with Dagga?

Fields of Green For ALL has applied to host a side event at The 66th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna this coming March. Our event is titled: Cannabis law reform leading the way towards more effective drug control and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

You might be surprised to read that out of those 17 SDGs, Cannabis can assist with all but two. You can read more about that in the free-to-download document: Cannabis & Sustainable Development Policy Toolkit, authored by international Fields of Green for ALL team member, Kenzi Riboulet-Zimouli (Independant drug policy researcher & UN / WHO civil society warrior, Spain)

This is the wording in our application. This is why we do what we do.

Cannabis law reform leading the way towards more effective drug control and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

As Cannabis activists we have discovered that the Cannabis conversation cuts through every line we have drawn in drug policy and is no longer simply about “to legalise or not to legalise”. Cannabis prohibition and the broader ‘war on drugs’ are policies that are a product of colonialism. This has led to a host of unintended negative consequences that are hampering development of evidence-based drug policy, fit for task in the 21st century.

At CND 65 our organisation hosted a side event “Making the Case for Evidence-Based Drug Policy” and this year’s event will expand the conversation to explore how the road towards evidence-based policy can also serve to resolve many of the hurdles faced by developing countries in the attainment of the SDGs.

What is at issue is herbal Cannabis. The current conversation is narrowly confined to pharmaceutical Cannabis without any consideration of the consequences for poorer countries with a legacy of the use, cultivation and trade in Cannabis. These are the countries that have been left behind as their former colonial masters relish the profits from high potency Cannabis that is grown indoors using excessive amounts of energy, for a market that is able to afford a pharmaceutical grade product that once grew in the wild in areas where, botanically, it was intended by nature, to grow. It was a diverse crop, a trusted and sustainable agriculture.

From environmental impact and drugs as a weapon of war, to member states’ compliance with the treaties, this side event will explore how the changing landscape of Cannabis law reform can guide the conversations around the most pressing issues of our time. 

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