Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSF)
The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) is an expert group to the European Commission. Its purpose is to provide a broad platform for a structured dialogue between the Commission and the European civil society which supports drug policy formulation and implementation through practical advice.
In 2024 Citywide successfully re-applied to be a member of EU Civil Society Forum. We attend annual plenary sessions and relevant sub groups and have participated in a Europe-wide survey on the EU Action Plan on Drugs. We have also developed bilateral links with a number of partner agencies from other countries on the Civil Society Forum and through the CSF UNGASS Working Group.
The forum is chaired by the Commission, which finances and organises its meetings and ensures continuity of its work. A "core group" contributes to the preparation of documents, agendas of the meetings and animates discussions and coordinates the work of members, also in between the meetings. The current CSFD has organized itself into two Thematic groups on broad thematic areas as follows.
- Thematic Group 1: CSFD’s engagement with the EU towards UN institutions / CSFD’s engagement with the EU with third parties, and
- Thematic Group 2: Flexible working group focusing on setting up ad hoc/time-bound groups focusing on specific themes or research
The CSFD meets once a year, while the core group assembles several times a year. Membership is renewed every three years, and the last call was in March 2024. The Civil Society Forum on Drugs runs currently from 2024 to 2028, with 43 members
Since its establishment, the Civil Society Forum has produced several reports of their activity, all available online.