Experts from 12 European and Latin-American countries met in Mexico last week to discuss the importance of mainstreaming a gender equality perspective in drug policy. The conference was co-organised by the Council of Europe’s drug policy network (the Pompidou Group), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and the National Institute for Women (INMUJERES). The conference focused on women’s unequal access to health care and social services, the double stigma of being a female drug consumer, the disproportionate criminal sanctions for women leading to impoverishment, marginalisation and crime, as well as the lack of gender-sensitive social reintegration programmes, especially of those targeting the family and children of women incarcerated for drug-related offences.