AMPHETAMINES LIKELY TO BE MAJOR DRUG PROBLEM OF NEXT CENTURY, EXPERTS AT UN MEETING IN SHANGHAI, CHINA, CONCLUDE

4 December 1996

Press Release
SOC/NAR/750

AMPHETAMINES LIKELY TO BE MAJOR DRUG PROBLEM OF NEXT CENTURY, EXPERTS AT UN MEETING IN SHANGHAI, CHINA, CONCLUDE

19961204 Public Health and Law Enforcement Experts Forge Global Strategy to Combat Spreading Abuse of Synthetic Stimulants

(Based on reports received from UNDCP officers in Shanghai.)

VIENNA, 29 November (UN Information Service) -- After witnessing a world-wide three-fold increase in the number of countries reporting rising abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants over the past 10 years and a 10-fold increase in seizures between 1978 and 1994, a United Nations meeting which ended in Shanghai, China, today mapped out a global strategy aimed at reversing what many are calling a trend "more dangerous than heroin and cocaine".

The International Expert Meeting on Stimulants, which was organized by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) in cooperation with the Chinese Government, recommended that governments combat the spread of such substances as "ecstasy" and "speed" by taking multifaceted action at the national and international levels.

The trouble is, many countries have no experience in dealing with the substances in question, and many of the steps needed to reduce consumption of synthetics will be different from prevailing measures aimed at stemming heroin and cocaine abuse, participants said in a report on the meeting. Amphetamine-type stimulants, it was pointed out during the week-long meeting, have become the most common drugs of abuse in several countries.

In a statement to the opening session on 25 November, UNDCP Executive Director Giorgio Giacomelli told those assembled that "on average, nearly 1 per cent of the world population above the age of 15 today has abused stimulants". The number of emergency room visits due to that group of drugs in the United States alone had tripled between 1990 and 1994, he said, adding that on the other side of the world, in Japan, nearly 90 per cent of drug-related convictions in recent years have involved methamphetamine.

He said those figures suggested that the amphetamine-type stimulants are fast becoming an "intractable, world-wide problem with the potential to inflict damage on societies more than even heroin and cocaine".

He also pointed out that Shanghai had been the scene of the International Opium Commission of 1909, which many considered to have been a "defining moment in the history of international drug control".

Among the steps called for by the meeting are:

-- Addressing the uncertainty about the risks associated with abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants by conducting mass outreach campaigns that would provide media, parents, teachers and community leaders with responsible information on stimulants, bearing in mind the specific situations in individual countries vis à vis the substances in question;

-- Instituting legal measures commensurate with the "acute threat to public health as well as the individual health risk" associated with amphetamine-type substances; eliminating legislative loopholes pertaining to various aspects of the stimulants problem, particularly between neighbouring countries;

-- Monitoring, nationally, regionally and internationally, the safety and efficacy of long-term administration of medically prescribed amphetamine-type stimulants for such conditions as attention deficit disorder and obesity; the World Health Organization (WHO) was asked to formulate guidelines for the rational use of amphetamine-type stimulants for medical purposes; countries were asked to have their national pharmaceutical regulatory authorities adhere to the prescription requirements requested under the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances;

-- Negotiating with Internet providers and software industries to set up mutually agreeable ways of removing offensive information on the production, distribution, promotional and use of so-called "designer drugs" and other stimulants from telecommunications networks; the United Nations would be asked to look into developing a code of conduct for industry-wide self-regulation in such areas as drug information, terrorism, child pornography and racism in time for the General Assembly's special session on drug control in 1998;

-- Taking advantage of Internet by linking with the UNDCP and the WHO in monitoring developments in connection with amphetamine-type substances, analysing trends and identifying potential future problem areas related to stimulants and their precursors, and to assist developing countries in computer technology and training;

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-- Taking action to carry out the provisions of the international drug control treaties that prohibit advertisement of controlled substances to the general public and ban incitement of illicit drug-related activities;

-- Tightening up controls at all levels, including the strengthening of ties with the relevant branches of industry, to prevent diversion of chemicals and laboratory equipment to the illicit manufacture of amphetamine-type stimulants; for example, governments would be asked to use the relevant treaty provisions to monitor sales of tabletting machines; and

-- Rethinking current scheduling systems to take into account that the chemical formulas for synthetic stimulants can be readily manipulated to create "new" substances; controls should be based on similarity in chemical structure or anticipated pharmacological effects.

The main background document for the meeting was a 139-page global review of problems related to amphetamine-type stimulants. The recommendations of the Shanghai meeting will be transmitted to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, which meets early next year in Vienna to formulate international drug policy.

For more information, contact United Nations Information Service, Vienna, Tel: (43-1) 21345-4666; Fax: (43-1) 21345-5899; e-mail: vpetzoldt@unvienna.un.or.at

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