On 21 July 2020, Pompidou Group and the Organisation of Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (OAS/CICAD) held the first of a series of joint webinars examining the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the design, implementation and evaluation of drug policies worldwide. The online event called ‘Impact of global economic consequences resulting from COVID-19 on drug policies’ was opened by the executive secretaries of the two organisations. Panellists from Argentina, Greece, Iceland, Jamaica, Portugal and the World Health Organisation as well as speakers from the Pompidou Group and CICAD attracted great attention with 262 participants coming from 34 countries on three continents.