The 19th annual ISSDP conference, hosted from 30 June to 2 July 2026 by the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University in Perth, will bring together drug policy scholars, policy makers, advocates and community voices, to explore drug policy, its formulation, effects and evaluation under the banner Connecting affected communities, drug policy and public health.

Drug policy has differential impacts on affected communities, and many are often sidelined in drug policy debates, both pre- and post-reform. Similarly, the inter-connection between drug policy and public health is not often paramount in debates around prohibition or post-prohibition models. Further, in the ‘fake news’ era there are questions about the credibility of scientific and non-scientific approaches to drug policy. Held in Australia for the first time in a decade, the 2026 conference encourages submissions from both the global south and the global north.

Emphasising the importance of people who use drugs and First Nations people in drug policy and its scholarship, it will also highlight how drug policy intersects with drug treatment, research with people with criminal legal system contact, local communities, families and others. Incorporating ISSDP’s focus on connecting and facilitating world-leading drug policy research, the conference will showcase novel methodological approaches and bring together a broad range of scholarship across the drug market, incorporating use, supply, cultivation/production and trafficking as well as other drug policy topics.

For ISSDP 2026, we particularly encourage contributions that address the following conference themes:

• Drug markets, production and supply
• Methodological innovations
• Affected communities: People who use drugs, First Nations people and others
• Evidence on legalization and other alternatives to prohibition
• Public health, harm reduction, justice and drug policy
• Drug policy in the global south
• Drug treatment – goals, innovations and policy
• Drug policy, science and non-science in the ‘fake news’ era
• Other topics of drug policy scholarship

Convenors:

• Simon Lenton - National Drug Research Institute (Australia) (NDRI)
• Paul Dessauer – Peer Based Harm Reduction Western Australia (PBHR WA)
• Bronwyn Myers - enAble Institute (Australia)
• Bep Uink - Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet
• Paul Dietze - NDRI and Burnet

The call for abstracts for the conference is open until 30.11.2025.

Abstracts can be submitted for: oral presentation, poster, and in-program workshop (usually up to 90 minutes).

Proposals for longer workshops to be held on the day before the conference, 29.06.26 can be submitted via email at issdp2026perth@gmail.com. Registration for pre-conference workshops will be separate to the conference registration itself.

Further details about the conference including keynote speakers, accommodation, social activities, scholarships, and side-events will be released in coming months.

Submissions close on 2025-11-30 23:00 (Australia/Perth), 1 month, 3 weeks from now.