Nobody yet knows what the full long-term effects of taking cannabis are and legalizing it for recreational use runs the risk of trivializing the dangers for teen consumers, the President of the UN-administered international narcotics watchdog has warned.

In an interview with UN News, Professor Jallal Toufiq also raised the alarm over the continuing proliferation of synthetic opioids on the black market, describing it as the International Narcotics Board’s number one issue - stating the INCB was doing all it can to tackle the scourge.

Khaled Mohamed of our Arabic news service, began by asking him to sum up the impact of cannabis on public health, and the push to legalize it recreationally.

People living with Down syndrome and other disabilities need a place at the table, according to a Canadian activist participating at a key UN event focused on their rights.

Inclusion is one of the key issues at the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is taking place at UN Headquarters in New York.

Eileen Travers sat down with Nicholas Herd and his colleague Warren Pot, from L’Arche Canada, part of an international non-profit organization striving towards the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.

She began by asking Mr. Herd why he came to the United Nations.

• UN chief calls for solidarity with people of Syria, with no time to spare

• Sudan: Displaced people victims of Darfur violence

• UN rights chief hails European AI regulation push

Mine Action Week takes place from 19 to 23 June in Geneva; it’s an opportunity to highlight how the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) works with partners to eliminate the menace posed by these explosive devices in more than 30 countries – including Ukraine. 

To find out more about the challenge of clearing mines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices, UN News’s Nathalie Minard sat down with Hansjörg Eberle, head of the Swiss demining NGO, FSD.

• Number of people forced to flee their homes at a record high: UNHCR

• DRC: Security Council, UN officials condemn ‘horrific’ attack on displaced people’s camp

• Cyclone Biparjoy approaches India and Pakistan coast: WMO 

In its new flagship report published on Wednesday the UN refugee agency UNHCR reveals that the 46 least developed countries are hosting more than 20 per cent of the refugee population – even though they account for only 1.3 per cent of GDP.

That’s one of the important data points contained in Global Trends in Forced Displacement 2022, which shows a record level of displacement, for the second year running, now standing at 108.4 million, UNHCR Director in New York, Ruven Menikdiwela told us.

UN News’s Pauline Batista began by asking her to outline the key findings.

• Kakhovka dam disaster a health crisis in the making: WHO
• Myanmar must re-instate aid access to communities hit by Cyclone Mocha, UN says
• Senegal: stop crackdown on protests and freedom of expression: OHCHR

The environmental and economic consequences of the dam disaster that’s inundated parts of southern Ukraine, flooding what is one of the world’s breadbaskets, is going to an awful shock to the people of the country and the entire ‘Global South’, the UN relief chief has told UN News.

In an interview on Friday night, Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, said the world stands by Ukraine in the wake of this latest disaster stemming from the Russian invasion, but with agricultural land swamped, food security is bound to be hit.

Nargiz Shekinskaya began by asking him in the wake of initial criticism from President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, if the UN could have acted sooner with aid, once disaster struck.

• One in every 10 children worldwide works instead of going to school: ILO
• Ukraine Kakhovka dam humanitarian effort reaches 180,000 people despite inclement weather
• United States decides to rejoin UN cultural agency

Young people must have a voice in global efforts to combat climate change – not because of their youth, but because they are important stakeholders who offer solutions to the crisis. 

That’s the opinion of Ayisha Siddiqa, a Pakistani-American environmental and human rights defender, who is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. 

Ms. Siddiqa spoke to Nadeem Saeed of UN News’s Urdu Unit, about how her background informs her work to accelerate the “SG’s” climate agenda. 

She also shared her honest take on UN climate conferences, known as COPs, and explains why poetry “can be a mechanism of quiet protest” in the face of the climate emergency.