COPOLAD brings together 36 countries of the EU and CELAC in Portugal. The New Psychoactive Substances, the central topic of this third edition.

Projects working on Universal care services tailored to problematic drug users met in Washington for further synergies related to the implementation of quality standards & evidence-based criteria as part of Public Health & Human Rights public policies.

COPOLAD celebrates its 3^rd Annual Conference, which this year is dedicated to encouraging the incorporation of the gender approach and women's empowerment in a cross-cutting manner. In this third annual edition, COPOLAD is bringing together in this conference 57 delegations, 33 from Latin America and the Caribbean. 12 Countries of the European Union, together with 10 international organizations, Including UN Women and UNODC, are joining the dialogue with the CELAC countries on this top-priority issue for the European Union within the framework of the 2030 Global Agenda for Sustainable Development.

34 countries are convened by COPOLAD with the aim of identifying and counteracting the cocaine trafficking routes and to debate over the policy research methodology and to exchange criteria on the importance of the international cooperation. With the presence of four Ecuadorian Ministries and the participation of first-level regional and international institutions, the debate and exchange fostered by COPOLAD keep being reinforced with multidisciplinary experiences and opinions. 

Among other objectives, COPOLAD supports the implementation of Early Warning Systems (EWS) to identify new threats related to drugs. It also covers the support of countries of the CELAC region committed to making significant progress in the implementation of Alternative Development strategies. In this framework, COPOLAD presents some success stories in both fields, emphasising the opportunities opened by some peer to peer cooperation exercises under development.