The Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs was formed in 1983 on the initiative of Dr. Eva Tongue. Supported by the then Executive Director of the UN Division, she brought together a number of NGOs represented at the UN Office in Vienna and the Committee was established.

The first NGO Forum on Drugs was held in Stockholm in 1986. This was followed in 1987 by a second forum in Vienna during the UN International Conference Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (ICDAIT), and a third NGO Forum in Bangkok in 1994 in cooperation with UNDCP. In the margins of the first UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in 1998 the VNGOC coordinated an NGO Village and supported NGOs to address the Plenary Session.

In preparation of the 10 year review of the 1998 UNGASS and the High Level meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in 2009 the VNGOC organised 9 regional consultations and held a Global Forum of NGOs. More than 300 representatives came together and developed the “Beyond 2008 Declaration.” 

in 2014 the New York and Vienna NGO Committees on Drugs launched the “Civil Society Task Force” (CSTF) to prepare for the 2016 UNGASS in New York. Regional consultations and a global survey led to to submission recommendations for the Zero-Draft of the UNGASS Outcome Document. 

The Civil Society Task Force (CSTF) was re-launched in 2018 to secure a comprehensive and meaningful participation of civil society actors in the process leading up to and at the CND Ministerial Segment 2019. 

In 2019 the VNGOC together with the UNODC Civil Society Unit and the Slum Child Foundation coordinated the drafting of the “African Civil Society Common Position on Drugs” that was presented at the 64th CND in 2020 and signed by more than 100 African NGOs. A similar process was started in 2020 in the Asia/Pacific Region.