Drug addiction is a challenge to human rights and public health and brings with it the potential to adversely affect the rule of law in society through illicit trafficking.
 

The Pompidou Group is an enlarged partial agreement working on this issue in the Council of Europe to guarantee a fair balance between the demands for public safety and the protection of individual rights. It promotes humane and sustainable drug policies by providing multidisciplinary responses to address problems resulting from use and addictive behaviours. Given the global nature of drug problems, it acts as a bridge between Europe and other world regions.

The Pompidou Group provides a forum for open debate to discuss different approaches to drug policy, offers innovative solutions, and facilitates capacity building across disciplines to enhance knowledge for better informed and evidence-based drug policy choices. It develops guidance and tools for policy makers, managers and practitioners involved in the development of drug policy and its implementation and evaluation. It promotes international co-operation to establish human rights oriented drug policies, thus helping to reduce drug use and the associated negative social and health consequences

The Pompidou Group involves civil society in most of its activities, in particular major non-governmental international platforms such as the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), Harm Reduction International, Correlation Network, the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs, and the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs. At Council of Europe level, its main partner is the INGO Conference, which has permanent observer statute in the Pompidou Group statutory bodies.