Eighth Meeting of the North American Drug Dialogue

November 14, 2024 – Mexico City, Mexico

On November 13 – 14, the Governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States met in Mexico City for the Eighth Meeting of the North American Drug Dialogue (NADD). The annual NADD meeting brings together drug policy leaders, public health experts, and law enforcement professionals from the three countries to collaborate on the shared threat posed by deadly and illegal drugs in order to make communities safer, improve health outcomes, and save lives.

Participants discussed the main aspects of the illegal drug market in North America, including emerging threats, as well as current drug trafficking and use trends. They reviewed progress over the past year to advance joint initiatives in support of five priority areas: current and emerging synthetic drugs, drug demand and public health efforts to address it, drug trafficking modes and methods, illicit financial flows related to illegal drug trafficking, and the links between firearms trafficking, drug trafficking, and transnational organized crime.

The three countries reaffirmed their commitment to continued trilateral collaboration to better understand and respond to the problems posed by the involvement of transnational organized crime in illegal drug production and trafficking, as well as take a public health approach to drug demand reduction. In 2025, Canada, Mexico, and the United States will develop cooperative actions in several areas, including wastewater testing and illegal drug early warning systems, postal and border security, tracking synthetic drug trends to inform actions to disrupt organized drug crime and improve health responses in North America, and review joint actions to address the flow of both illegal synthetic drugs and firearms.

Representatives of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium also attended this year’s meeting as part of a continued effort to expand collaboration with other countries to address our shared illegal drug threats. The Dutch and Belgian representatives provided information on their illegal drug markets and discussed plans for collaboration with the NADD in the coming year.

The NADD was established in July 2016, during the North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS). By fostering open dialogue and sharing information, best practices, and experiences, Canada, Mexico, and the United States seek to improve understandings of the challenges posed by the illegal drug market to North America and promote coordinated solutions to them.