PRESS BRIEFING BY INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD

4 March 1997

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD

19970304 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

The media had a very important role to play in support of drug control efforts worldwide, said the President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Oskar Schroeder, speaking from Vienna this morning in a tele- press briefing held simultaneously in New York and Vienna, to release the Board's 1996 annual report. The Vice-President of the Board, Herbert Okun, appeared before correspondents at Headquarters.

Mr. Schroeder said the media increased awareness of the drug problem and could, through courageous reporting, stimulate the international community's willingness to intervene. He trusted that journalists in Vienna and New York would use their responsibility to assist the Board in preventing and combating the problem of drug abuse and illicit trafficking worldwide.

International drug control could work satisfactorily and efficiently if all countries cooperated within the framework of the three main international drug control conventions, he continued. In other words, the first precondition for success was the global adherence to those treaties. Good progress had been made last year, he said. Out of the 185 United Nations Member States, 158 had become parties to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs; 146 had become parties to the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances; and 137 to the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

In his introductory remarks in New York, Mr. Okun said that in this year's report the Board had looked at drug abuse and the criminal justice system worldwide. The Board believed that it was important to harmonize international efforts in that area and to work closely together on the basis of the three conventions, particularly the 1988 Convention. The Board emphasized the need to go after trafficking rings, and it believed that the only way to be truly effective was to disrupt their operations. It had made some specific recommendations.

On the question of extradition, the Board believed that the time had come for States that refused to extradite their own nationals to consider alternatives, he continued. States were also informed that the 1988 Convention could itself serve as the basis for extradition. With regard to immunity of fiscal offenders, many States still continued to exclude tax and fiscal offences from the coverage of some extradition regimes, despite their treaty obligations. The Board would like States to apply the provisions of the 1988 Convention to set up procedures to monitor financial transactions and to seize the ill-gotten gains of the drug traffickers.

Mr. Okun said the Board expressed its concern about the disproportionate sentences served by some major drug traffickers, often as a result of plea agreements or amnesties. It pointed out that some high-level offenders were serving far less time than the average sentences imposed on small-time dealers. That was the case despite the fact that there were alternatives for small-time offenders -- treatment or rehabilitation.

A second aspect of the report was the question of methylphenidate, and the entire question of the stimulants and pushing controlled substances on people via the Internet, said Mr. Okun. Psychotropics, methylphenidate and synthetic drugs were a big problem. In connection with methylphenidate, which was widely used in the United States and Canada to treat attention-deficit disorders, emergency room admissions last year from methylphenidate for children from ten to fourteen years of age were as high as emergency room admissions for cocaine.

The Board's previous report, in which it said that methylphenidate was subject to serious abuse, had been conclusively proven by "this sad fact", he added. Emergency room admissions for methylphenidate usage were 10 times higher in the United States than in 1990. The Board, therefore, welcomed the fact that United States Government agencies would hold "a consensus meeting" this year on methylphenidate to find out what was going on. "It is a big problem", he said.

Continuing, Mr. Okun said the Board's report also covered the so-called medical use of marijuana and its legalization in Arizona and California. The Board supported the firm stand of the authorities of the United States against such subterfuge and back-door attempts to legalize that dangerous drug. The report also discussed the situation in the Americas and the Swiss Government's project of supplying heroin to addicts. The Board noted with concern the erroneous statements by some Swiss Government officials and others about the as yet unpublished, interim report on the Swiss project being studied by the World Health Organization (WHO). He said the WHO and the Swiss Government itself had not finished evaluating the report. For its own part, the Board continued to view the entire project with concern and did not endorse it, Mr. Okun said.

Asked about the Board's opinion on the annual certification exercise on worldwide drug control efforts undertaken by the United States, Mr. Okun said that the Board, as an international body concerned with monitoring implementation of the international conventions, did not get involved in the bilateral relations of individual countries. It, therefore, did not have any opinion on the actions of the United States Government. In carrying out its own duties, the Board commented, as appropriate, on individual countries.

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Responding from Vienna, Mr. Schroeder said that the certification of efforts by countries to combat drug trafficking was a matter between the United States and those countries. The Board had no specific comment.

Asked whether the President of Colombia was mentioned in the Board's references to Colombia in the report, Mr. Okun said there were no such references. With respect to Colombia itself, the Board criticized the country by name for its lax sentencing activities with regard to drug kingpins. Reading from the report, he said the Board considered it vital that penalties imposed by criminal justice systems be commensurate with the seriousness of the offences. It noted with great concern that the short sentences served by some major drug traffickers often resulted from plea agreements or amnesties. "For example, following a drug amnesty programme, a major drug figure was recently released in Colombia", Mr. Okun said, quoting from the report.

Elsewhere in the report, the Board noted that large amounts of heroin entered illicit traffic from Colombia, he continued. The Board hoped that draft legislation would soon be adopted in Colombia to increase sentences for crimes related to drug trafficking and to allow for seized assets. The Board also noted that most of the heroin smuggled out of Colombia, mainly for transport to the United States, accounted for the main share of the heroin seized in the latter country. The Board observed that coca paste and base continued to be smuggled into Colombia for processing. According to the report, from 1990 to 1994, Colombia accounted for 52 per cent of the total amount of cocaine seized in South America. The Board's comments on Colombia were balanced, thorough and accurate. "I think it points the finger where the finger should be pointed", he said.

The correspondent said there were two sides to the issue -- the countries that produced cocaine and those that consumed it, which was mainly the United States. Noting that he did not want to enter into "metaphysical discussion" with the correspondent, Mr. Okun said that the Board's view was that a balanced approach was necessary -- both supply and demand should be reduced. The Board had several years ago highlighted the need for demand reduction.

Commenting from Vienna, Mr. Schroeder said prevention was highly important. "The drug problem can hardly be solved by the suppression of trafficking and the suppression of cultivation", he said. "If the international community is not able to solve the demand question, then the drug problem can never be solved." Prevention, from his point of view, had first priority. Governments did not recognize that prevention was the most important, since it showed results only after a prolonged period.

Responding to a question about prevention programmes, Herbert Schaepe, Secretary of the INCB, said that every country should develop its own demand reduction policy. There was no worldwide special programme for that. The

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Commission on Narcotic Drugs was developing guidelines on demand reduction. Children should be educated at an early age about drugs and be taught to lead a healthy lifestyle -- without tobacco or alcohol. All countries should strive for a drug-free society.

Mr. Okun told a correspondent that the Board generally supported regional initiatives designed to achieve real prevention. In the Africa section of the report, the Board noted that certain States had taken initiatives in that direction. The Board supported countries that supported the conventions. It would not be right for the Board or the international community to dismiss well-meaning efforts, even in countries that had difficulties with the drug problem.

Responding to a question about drug prevention problems in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Mr. Schaepe said that they had all types of priorities. They faced heavy drug trafficking, primarily in opiates and heroin. They were fighting against the transit of those drugs into their countries, as well as the transit of chemical precursors from western and eastern Europe through their countries to Afghanistan.

What was the Board doing to control money laundering and chemical precursors which were "big business in the United States"? a correspondent asked. Mr. Okun said money laundering was a large problem throughout the world, not just the United States. The Board had last year called attention to the problem in its report. It had made over a dozen specific recommendations to governments concerning money laundering. In the highlights section of its latest report, it urged an attack on large drug trafficking organizations and their money laundering, as well as their shell companies. On the question of precursors, he said they were part of the worldwide chemical industry. The Board had noted some success in their control.

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