In the area of psychoactive drugs, the Unit focuses on strengthening public health responses to the world’s drug problem and contributing to international drug policy dialogues by:

• developing, disseminating and supporting implementation of technical guidelines, standards and tools for prevention, identification, diagnosis and treatment of health conditions due to psychoactive drug use within the framework of Universal Health Coverage (UHC);
• working with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on implementation of the WHO-UNODC program on drug dependence treatment and care; and,
• generating, compiling and disseminating reliable information on the health impacts of psychoactive drug use, effectiveness of prevention and treatment interventions, and on prevention and treatment capacity of health systems with regard to drug use disorders and associated health conditions.