For Alternative Approaches to Addiction, Think & do tank (FAAATorFAAAT think & do tank) is an international non-profit organization working on drug policy, created in 2015 and based in Paris, France.[2]
The organization focuses on research and advocacy related to policy alternatives in the field of addiction, drug use and substance abuse, claiming to foster civil society participation in policymaking at the international level. According to its mission statement, FAAAT supports "Transparent and measurable drug policies framed by fundamental rights, grounded on sustainable development, enforcing empowerment, social justice and health" and "supports the development of a legally controlled market for cannabis."[3] The organization is present at both the local and international levels.[4][5]
FAAAT's vision is that, from the local up to the international level, public policies related to controlled drugs should be transparent and measurable, framed by the Fundamental human rights of citizens, grounded on sustainable development, and that can empower the whole society while enforcing social justice and protecting health.
The organization's think-tank researches
policy alternatives to the current prohibition of drugs. Its do-tank organizes social engineering, collective action and advocacy for ground-up reformer stakeholders.[citation needed]
The organization claims two goals are structuring its actions (the so-called do-tank), "take action to ground the updates of international drug policy on sustainable development, human rights, transparency, and inclusiveness" and "strengthen peer groups, social movements and the nonprofit sector to increase knowledge, sustainability, effectiveness, and capacity for collective action on drug-related issues."[citation needed]
Leadership of FAAAT think and do tank during the closure of the International Cannabis Policy Conference 2018. From left to right: Farid Ghehiouèche, Hanka Gabrielová, Amy Case King, Michael Krawitz and Kenzi Riboulet-Zemouli.
As such, FAAAT has been essentially active at the multilateral and international level (including at the European Union level[10]). FAAAT has also supported local advocacy groups (such as the Catalan Network of People who Use Drugs CATNPUD,[11] the rural cannabis farmers of the Ghomara and Senhaja people of the Moroccan central Riff[12] or the French platform of NGOs for the reform of drug policies[13]).
FAAAT also works to foster exchange of data and know-hows between politics, scholars and civil society stakeholders[14] on drug-related policies and field practices.[15]
The organization follows-up the work of the United Nations and international organizations (such as the INCB, UNODCorWHO) and regularly addresses international policymakers on drug-related issues, in particular the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs through oral[16] or written statements,[17] by showcasing policy models[18] or by organizing fora and symposia (such as the Legal Regulations fora[19][20][21][22] or the International Cannabis Policy Conference at the United Nations[23]).
The organization works closely with the official consultative bodies towards the United Nations: NYNGOC (New-York NGO Committee on Drugs) and VNGOC (Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs). FAAAT is also a founding member of the IMCPC (International Medical Cannabis Patients Coalition) and the Geneva Platform on Human Rights, Health and Psychoactive Substances.[citation needed]
More broadly, FAAAT holds a blog and informs media and local communities about key policy issues.[24]
Just Coca forum, on coca leaf policy (May 2022).[28]
Think-tank: Research on alternative drug policies[edit]
Hanka Gabrielová presenting FAAAT's Discussion Paper "Cannabis & Sustainable Development" during the Emerald Cup, December 2018
Although mainly focusing on international cannabis policy, the research department of FAAAT (so-called think-tank) claims to "impulse a modern approach to the categorification of "drugs": renew terminology, taxonomy & scheduling to review the biochemical paradigm of drug use" and pretends to "shift drug policies towards evidence and effectiveness: enhancing positive drug-related programs and actions from the ground."[29]
An important work of the think-tank has been the research and analysis surrounding the WHO process of scientifically reviewing cannabis for purposes of scheduling under the international drug control Treaties[33][34] where FAAAT has encouraged the WHO to take action, and fuelled civil society,[35] researchers and physicians[36] involvement in the process. According to the British Medical Journal, once the definitive results of the WHO reviews of cannabis for international scheduling was made public early 2019, FAAAT considered that the outcome was "positive" and "clearly acknowledges medical applications of cannabis and cannabinoids, reintegrates them into pharmacopoeias, balances harms and [effectively] repeals the WHO position from 1954 according to which ‘there should be efforts towards the abolition of cannabis from all legitimate medical practice.’"[37] In December 2020, the efforts of FAAAT team were successful, with the withdrawal of "cannabis and cannabis resin" from Schedule IV of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961.[38][39][40]
FAAAT considers that drug policies that enforce prohibition violate a series of fundamental human rights. Research is also being undertaken on this topic, and leads to outputs such as the submission of contributions to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.[41]
Besides international policy, one of the important task of the organization has been to popularize ground-up, peer-based and locally oriented models of legally regulated drug markets, in particular through the promotion of Appellations of Origin[43][44] to protect traditional farmers knowledge in producing countries, or the so-called cannabis social club model for consumer countries, through the edition of advocacy documents[45] or the organisation of workshops within the United Nations[46] on the broader modalities of application of such model.
FAAAT is registered as an editor at the French national registry, and showcases its publications on its website.[47] Remarked publications are:
Cannabis & Sustainable Development. Paving the way for the next decade in Cannabis and hemp policy.Recommendations for the implementation of Cannabis policies aligned with international Human Rights standards, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 2016 UNGASS outcome document.ISBN979-10-97087-06-7. Full PDF available online
The Crimson Digest, Volume 1.Briefing on the international scientific assessment of cannabis: processes, stakeholders and history.ISBN979-10-97087-06-7. PDF available online
^Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM) (5 May 2017). "La Suisse est-elle un modèle ?". Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Sciences de l'Action (LIRSA), CNAM. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
^UNITED NATIONS JOURNAL, Commission on Narcotic Drugs Sixtieth session (16 March 2017). "Legal Regulations Fora: The Urgency to Move Ahead"(PDF). Commission on Narcotic Drugs Sixtieth session, Journal nº4, SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS – THURSDAY, 16 March 2017. p. 4.
^UNITED NATIONS JOURNAL, Commission on Narcotic Drugs Fifty-ninth session (17 March 2016). "Introduction to Cannabis Social Clubs"(PDF). Commission on Narcotic Drugs Fifty-ninth session, Journal nº4, SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS – THURSDAY, 17 March 2016. p. 4.
^Franjo Grotenhermen, MD (25 November 2018). "IACMBulletin of 25 November 2018". IACM – International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
^"REPORT adopted by the Committee"(PDF). WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP). Twenty-Third Session, Geneva. 20–24 May 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
^Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty; Regulación Responsable, Chanvre & Libertés-NORML France; Fundación Renovatio; Foundation ICEERS and FAAAT (17 March 2016). "Introduction to Cannabis Social Clubs, in SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS of the COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS, FIFTY-NINTH SESSION, REGULAR SEGMENT (page 4)". Board of the 59th Commission on Narcotic Drugs. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Cannabis
Politics
