COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS TO HOLD FORTIETH SESSION IN VIENNA, 18 TO 27 MARCH
Press Release
SOC/NAR/752
COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS TO HOLD FORTIETH SESSION IN VIENNA, 18 TO 27 MARCH
19970314 Background Release Among Issues Are: Spreading Abuse of 'Ecstasy', 'Speed'; Plans for Special Assembly Session, Prescription of Narcotics to AddictsVIENNA, 14 March (UN Information Service) -- The illicit manufacturing, trafficking and use of amphetamine-type stimulants and their precursors -- a phenomenon which threatens to be the major drug problem of the twenty-first century -- will be a subject for priority debate when the United Nations principal policy-making body on drug control, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, meets here from 18 to 27 March.
The economic incentives of synthetic drug production -- which generates profits of up to 3,000 per cent on the cost of raw materials -- are detailed in one of the reports to be taken up at the session. Manufacturers can set up their "kitchens" close to the point of consumption, thereby cutting out long supply chains and reducing the risks of detection, according to the report. "Recipes" for the stimulants in question are now freely available on the Internet and users are less aware of the dangers of the substances produced than those of heroin and cocaine.
In view of the continuing differences of opinion between States about the legality and actual medicinal value of prescribing narcotic drugs such as Methadone -- and heroin itself -- to addicts, the Commission will examine the latest findings on the effects on individuals, society and international drug control of prescribing narcotics to drug addicts.
Against the backdrop of a worsening worldwide drug problem, the Commission will devote the last two days of its meeting to preparations for a special three-day General Assembly session in 1998 to consider international action to fight drug abuse and illicit production and trafficking, as well as possible revisions in the current international strategy -- the Global Programme of Action adopted in 1990. The preparatory session, which will take place on 26 and 27 March, will address such questions as the spread of stimulants, curbing money-laundering and reducing the demand for drugs worldwide.
The Commission will review the activities of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme during the past year. According to a report of its Executive Director, the Programme's work over the past year has
ranged from providing advice on the threat of drug trafficking in the post-conflict environment of the Balkans to promoting sustainable income alternatives to the opium poppy and coca bush in countries where these have persisted as cash crops. The Drug Control Programme has also alerted the international community to the increasing threat posed by the illicit manufacture and trafficking in amphetamine-type stimulants manufactured from readily obtainable synthetic substances.
Also before the Commission will be the 1997 Report of the International Narcotics Control Board, released in 48 cities earlier this month, which draws attention to international trends in drug abuse and trafficking. The Report highlights the increasing abuse of anorectic (appetite-suppressant) stimulants, the global surge in the prescription of other stimulants to treat children's behavioural problems, the spread of large-scale cannabis cultivation in several regions and the role of criminal justice systems in drug control.
Special Assembly Session
The General Assembly last year decided to convene for three days in 1998 a special session devoted to the global fight against the illicit production, sale, demand, traffic and distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and related activities, and assigned the Commission on Narcotic Drugs to act as a preparatory body. The Commission will, therefore, spend two days -- 26 and 27 March -- drawing up a provisional agenda and timetable for the session. Among the issues likely to be considered at the special session are what the world community can do to stem money laundering, block the spread of amphetamine-type stimulants and their illicit production, and what changes, if any, might be required in the Global Programme of Action in light of developments in the world drug situation since 1990.
Abuse of and Illicit Trafficking in Stimulants
A report will be presented to the Commission containing the recommendations of an expert meeting held in Shanghai, China, last November on proposals for stemming illicit manufacturing, trafficking and use of amphetamine-type stimulants and their precursors.
The grave threat posed by the abuse of stimulants such as "speed" and "ecstasy" has increased significantly over the last 10 years, and what began as a localized phenomenon, according to the report, now has the potential to become the major drug problem of the twenty-first century.
Driving the surge in stimulant abuse are the economic incentives. In some countries, the clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine produces profits of nearly 3,000 per cent on the cost of raw materials, according to
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the report. The abundance and accessibility of precursors also means that manufacture can be carried out by non-specialists close to the points of final consumption. Fewer links in the supply chain reduce the scope for effective interdiction. Detailed information on the manufacture of those substances is also widely available to the public through the Internet and other networks.
The demand for amphetamine-type stimulants, says the report, is probably driven by the social, cultural and economic forces of the past decades. Compared with cocaine, "speed" and "ecstasy" are less expensive, have a longer-lasting effect and a relatively benign public image. With the drug control focus still overwhelmingly on plant-based narcotic drugs, the threat of artificial stimulants is still underestimated.
The report recommends that the international community should make a concerted effort to curb the further spread of abuse and reduce existing levels of use. Such activities should be given high priority within the work of the Drug Control Programme, and should be discussed regularly by national and international drug control bodies. Amphetamine-type stimulant abuse should not be allowed to become part of mainstream consumer culture.
Authorities, the report says, should monitor new information networks such as the Internet, and to trace and punish law-breakers, as well as to keep abreast of popular drug-culture trends. Awareness-raising media campaigns are also suggested. A reduction in economic incentives could be achieved by improved control of the precursor chemicals used in the manufacture of the drugs and by more vigilant efforts through regional and international cooperation to counteract money laundering of the proceeds of drug trafficking in general.
Prescription of Narcotic Drugs to Drug Addicts
At present, the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 recognizes the medical use of narcotic drugs as indispensable to the relief of pain and suffering. Parties to the 1961 Convention are required to take such legislative and administrative measures as may be necessary to limit the production, manufacture, export, import, distribution of, trade in and possession of narcotic drugs exclusively to medical and scientific purposes. As there is no definition of the expression "medical and scientific purposes", it is possible for States to reach different conclusions about what actually constitutes a legitimate scientific and medical purpose.
Before the Commission will be a report giving an overview of current practices in different countries. That shows that drugs such as Methadone are being used to address the long-term problems of chronic drug addiction and to wean addicts. In other States, there is doubt as to the effectiveness of that treatment, and policies designed to influence the thinking of young people are implemented instead.
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Activities of Drug Control Programme
The United Nations International Drug Control Programme was created by the General Assembly in 1990 to coordinate all United Nations drug control activities and provide effective leadership in international drug control. As a main topic of discussion at the fortieth session, the Commission will review the work of the principal activities and strategic direction of the Programme in 1996 on the basis of the report by the Programme's Executive Director.
The Drug Control Programme has, over the last year, consolidated its position as a centre of competence and a reference point for international drug control. The strategic view underpinning all activities in 1996 has been that demand reduction and supply reduction are mutually reinforcing elements. The strategy has also emphasized implementing international drug control treaties, suppressing illicit drug trafficking and mobilizing civil society, in particular non-governmental organizations, with a view to preventing and further reducing drug abuse.
The Programme's role as a catalyst in fostering cooperation among governments at subregional, regional and interregional levels has been instrumental in furthering successful joint efforts and activities against illicit drug trafficking and abuse on a global scale. Much progress has been made in a great many areas. Assistance in the form of telecommunications equipment has been provided to anti-narcotic task forces in the border area between Myanmar and China.
Measures for the reduction of illicit crops have been taken in the north-west frontier area between Pakistan and Afghanistan by encouraging cultivation of alternative cash crops, such as onions, in Afghanistan instead of opium poppies. The Drug Control Programme is also supporting similar programmes in areas of Bolivia and Peru where coca bush is cultivated.
The need to respond rapidly to new drug-control problems has been addressed by the Programme over the past year, the report says. A major problem on which the Programme has brought its considerable expertise and experience to bear in 1996 has been in the aftermath of the war in the Balkans. There, States have been faced with strong pressure from criminal groups seeking to exploit the post-conflict situation and establish drug-trafficking routes. The Programme has taken part in the reconstruction and institution-building processes in the Balkans, with the aim of preventing traffickers from gaining a strong foothold in those vulnerable regions.
The priority need for greater technical cooperation activities in Africa, where drug control know-how has been found to be weaker than in other regions, has led the Drug Control Programme to reinforce its field presence by opening an office in Cairo with responsibility for northern Africa and the Middle East. The intention is to provide more attention to drug-related
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problems in Africa, including closer cooperation with grass-roots groups in the region.
Acting as an "honest broker", the Programme has also sponsored direct consultations between parties involved in major drug-related problems and has succeeded in integrating a drug control dimension into the work of United Nations agencies, international financial institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Support has been provided by the Programme to institutions in several countries through training and advisory assistance in drug detection, intelligence analysis and investigative methods. In Africa, there has been training of specialized units to monitor and control drug-related activities at vulnerable seaports in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the Programme has supported public health campaigns to emphasize the risks of drug abuse among street children, women in urban slums and intravenous drug users. In several regions, the Programme has supported cross-border law enforcement operations, operations against money laundering and drug-abuse prevention.
Illicit Drug Traffic and Supply
Regional meetings of the Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies were held during the past year in Cairo (for Africa) and Manila (for Asia and the Pacific), with the aim of improving regional and subregional cooperation in drug control activities.
The Commission will consider the Africa meeting's recommendations that the Drug Control Programme do more to help countries adopt up-to-date and harmonized legislation, and train law enforcement agents. The Asia and the Pacific meeting has asked that the Programme, together with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), examine the issue of pooling intelligence on increased abuse of, and traffic in, "ecstasy" in the subregion.
The Commission will also have before it a Secretariat report providing an overview of trends in international illicit drug trafficking based on information requested and received from governments and other key sources. The report states that trafficking in both heroin and cocaine stabilized in early 1990s, but rose again in the mid-1990s. Global seizures of heroin remained stable, while seizures of cocaine decreased. Seizures of cannabis resin worldwide increased significantly, and the indoor cultivation of cannabis, which produces a plant with a much higher psychoactive effect than its outdoor counterpart, continues to increase in many parts of the world.
Throughout the 1990s, there has been an increase in the seizure of psychotropic substances which may be indicative of just how far the abuse of these substances has spread in geographic terms, not just in industrialized countries, but in many developing States. Trafficking in amphetamine-type stimulants has also increased significantly in the 1990s. Seizure of
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precursors and essential chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of drugs such as heroin and cocaine are reported down, probably due to the fact that traffickers are diversifying and now using a substantial number of non-scheduled chemicals -- mainly solvents -- for illicit cocaine processing and manufacture, the report says.
The report also reveals that drug traffickers are increasingly taking advantage of improved international trade and transportation routes to move drugs around the world. Law enforcement methods are being stepped up to increase rates of interception, but that is against the background of almost unlimited manpower and expertise at the disposal of the traffickers. Techniques currently being explored as a possible means of counteracting the threat of drug trafficking include controlled delivery and drug-courier profiling operations.
Illicit Demand
With regard to patterns in demand for illicit drugs, the Commission will have before it a report on the world drug-abuse situation, based mainly on data submitted by governments, and supplemented, where available, with other official data. It is conceded that, as drug abuse is a somewhat private and secretive act, the numbers of drug abusers given in the report are conservatively estimated. It is, nevertheless, shown that abuse of amphetamines, cannabis and opiates all seem to be on the increase, and that the abuse of cocaine and hallucinogens has stabilized at a high level.
Cannabis is the most frequently reported drug of abuse in all regions of the world and the most prevalent drug among the general population. The number of users of amphetamine-type drugs, which suppress sensations of hunger and fatigue and can lead to malnutrition and collapse, is estimated at 6 million in the 37 reporting countries.
Several countries have reported increased drug abuse among young people, and it is also clear that the initiation into drug abuse is now taking place at a younger age. While schools appear to be playing the largest role in drug prevention, street children and school drop-outs are recognized as being at the highest risk for drug abuse. Most countries report they do not have an articulated treatment policy and the least-addressed aspect of demand reduction appears to be social reintegration of former drug users.
Membership of Commission
The 53 members of the Commission are: Algeria, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Lebanon, Liberia, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela.
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