COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS CONCLUDES FORTIETH SESSION IN VIENNA 18 - 27 MARCH

3 April 1997

Press Release
SOC/NAR/756

COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS CONCLUDES FORTIETH SESSION IN VIENNA 18 - 27 MARCH

19970403 Urges Tighter Controls on Synthetic Stimulants, Lays Groundwork for 1998 General Assembly Session on Drug Control Issues

VIENNA, 27 March (UN Information Service) -- Stressing the grave threat to global society from drug abuse and illicit drug-trafficking, and admitting that the battle with drug traffickers was far from won, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs ended a two-week session here this afternoon with a call for concerted international commitment to a "forward-looking drug strategy for the twenty-first century".

Two separate resolutions approved for submission to the Economic and Social Council later this year reflected delegates' deep concern at the escalating threat to human health and welfare from "new" amphetamine-type drugs, including "Ecstasy" and "Speed". Closer and more comprehensive monitoring of chemicals used in the manufacture of synthetic drugs was called for, as well as enforcement by States of criminal penalties to reflect the acute threat posed to individual and public health by such substances.

In the debate leading up to that action, most delegations had expressed dismay at the trend whereby amphetamine-type stimulant abuse was becoming part of "mainstream consumer culture" in many regions of the world. A range of measures was called for by the Commission: tougher criminal, civil and administrative sanctions against offenders, further limits to the availability of precursors for clandestine manufacture and closer monitoring of drug-related information, including removal of drug-production instructions from the Internet.

Positions differed widely over recent action on the part of a few States to liberalize their drug laws or to de-penalizing drug abuse, and on experimental programmes under which heroin and other narcotics are prescribed to drug addicts. Critics saw such schemes as having a harmful impact on public attitude towards drug taking and even as undermining the international drug control system itself.

A number of other texts were approved, dealing with efforts to combat the illicit traffic by sea of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; measures to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of criminals involved in organized drug-trafficking groups; the under-availability of opiates for

legitimate medical and scientific needs; regional and global demand reduction strategies; and how to ensure adequate financing for United Nations drug control efforts in the face of an increasing demand for resources to fight illicit trafficking.

Regional and subregional initiatives were credited by many delegations as a hopeful endeavour against both illicit supply and consumption of narcotic drugs and delegates from many of the countries involved paid tribute to the role played by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme in such arrangements.

The last two days of the session were devoted to drawing up an agenda for a special session of the General Assembly which will take place in New York for three days in June 1998. The Assembly last year decided to convene the special session in order to review global drug control strategy in light of recent developments. The session is intended as an opportunity for the international community to renew its commitment to the fight against the world-wide drug problem and to forge an effective drug control strategy for the next century.

The Commission, which has been asked by the Assembly to act as preparatory body for the special session, decided that the 1998 meeting would focus on four major issues: how to address the growing trend towards abuse of synthetic stimulants; proposals for tightening controls over chemicals used in producing illicit drugs; efforts to combat money laundering; and ways to promote international cooperation in investigating and prosecuting drug traffickers.

Overview of Discussions

A common theme throughout this year's deliberations was the observation by many delegations that international drug control efforts were not commensurate with increasingly sophisticated illicit drug trafficking and ever-changing patterns of drug abuse. There was a general agreement that the situation was worsening, with new trafficking routes developing and drug trafficking organizations linking up across the world. Traffickers and money launderers were gaining influence, undermining economies and even governments. Spectacular raids in some countries had often been followed by periods of regression and set back.

Many countries did not have sufficient resources to go after the many sides of criminal drug enterprise, whereby illicit cultivation took place in one country, production in a second, distribution in others and the profits laundered in still others. At the same time, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme found itself dependent for its core activities on voluntary contributions from a handful of governments. The Commission approved the Programme's effort to expand its donor base and support was

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expressed for turning over a portion of assets seized from drug criminals to the Drug Control Programme.

Many delegates felt the drug problem was here to stay, as long as human beings felt a need to escape reality, for whatever reason, and especially in view of the enormous profits to be made from illicit supply. Sweden noted the prevalence in some countries of an overwhelming feeling of public resignation. Seeing drug-dealing on street corners and hearing calls in the media for drug liberalization or even legalization were said to be undermining public trust in the ability of national and international authorities.

The abuse of amphetamine-type substances had also begun to proliferate at a time when strategies to combat traditional plant-based drugs were just starting to show results, placing even higher burdens on drug control measures and eroding public confidence.

On the plus side, it was acknowledged by a number of participants that the vast majority of people were "strongly opposed" to making drugs freely available, drug addicts remained in the minority and most young people were drug-free.

Illicit Traffic and Supply

The liberalization of world trade, said speakers, had not in itself caused drug trafficking, but had provided traffickers with improved means of transport, weaker border controls and multiple opportunities for laundering criminal proceeds. There had been an increase in maritime drug trafficking via pleasure craft, fishing boats and commercial container vessels. The influence of transnational crime, in particular terrorist groups, in drug trafficking had continued to grow, and criminal organizations from different countries and regions were now increasingly pooling their efforts and resources.

The only way to counter international crime was by a concerted response on the part of the international community, Poland told the Commission. The measures required to tackle the problem of illicit trafficking and supply were already spelt out in the relevant conventions, that delegate said, and States should redouble their efforts to implement those measures fully.

It was agreed that law enforcement should increasingly target the kingpins of trafficking organizations, despite the difficulties often encountered in mounting successful prosecutions. The harder line also being taken by many countries against money laundering, involving detection, seizure and forfeiture of criminal assets, was also welcomed.

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Demand Reduction

Efforts to reduce drug consumption were cited as an essential element in fighting illicit drugs. Several delegates urged that every State include demand reduction strategies in their drug master plans.

The "most fundamental demand-reduction strategy", several speakers emphasized, was the eradication of poverty. Harsh economic conditions, they said, encouraged people to go into the illicit drug business, preoccupied with their own survival and thus completely insensitive to the misery they were creating. Unless this trend was addressed, even the most sophisticated or well-considered strategies would founder, some participants felt.

1998 Special Session

In preparation for the Assembly's special session on illicit drugs trafficking and consumption, to be held in New York in June 1998, the Commission devoted 26 and 27 March to drawing up a provisional agenda and timetable. The Assembly session will be open to all 185 Member States, and more than 100 countries were represented by delegates or observers during the preparatory segment.

While many delegations envisaged the session as a valuable public arena for the international community to reaffirm its commitment to combating the drug problem, concern was voiced by Mexico and others that the opportunities afforded by such a high-level meeting would be wasted unless it produced tangible results in bringing traffickers to justice and reducing drug misuse. Many also lamented the short time-span allotted to the special session.

Working methods for the 1998 special session came under intensive scrutiny by delegates. Australia advised against a succession of set-piece speeches and "turgid debating swamps" from which nothing of particular value tended to emerge. India stressed the importance of keeping the special session focused on limited issues of real concern.

Several speakers pointed to difficulties with the existing treaty system, which includes the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and its 1972 Protocol, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. Some recommended a more flexible way of scheduling drugs and substances, including harsher civil and criminal penalties against those who knowingly allow diversion of chemicals used in the manufacture of illicit drugs.

The Commission decided that the special session should, in addition to its four main topics, also issue a declaration on agreed principles for reducing demand for illicit drugs and discuss eradication of illegal drug

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crops and proposals for alternative development. Consultations will take place in Vienna in July and October on money laundering, judicial cooperations, precursors, stimulants and alternative development. A further meeting will take place in December to assess progress made, and the Commission will hold another preparatory session in Vienna in February 1998.

The General Assembly last devoted a special session to drug concerns in February 1990 when it adopted a Global Programme of Action against illicit production, supply, demand, trafficking and distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Money Laundering

It was agreed that the outlawing of money laundering, though not itself a narcotics crime, was now an essential component of the global anti-drug strategy. Drug money was not only financing luxurious life-styles but, Algeria pointed out, it was also used to fund terrorism, destabilize regimes and support racketeering of every kind. Many delegates expressed the view that denying traffickers safe financial havens for the proceeds of their criminal activities was "perhaps the most powerful weapon at the disposal of the international community". By removing the economic incentives, many speakers stressed, the entire raison d'être of the drug business itself was itself removed.

Some delegates advocated universal adherence to the money-laundering principles of the anti-drug conventions and the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force as the key to wiping out money laundering. South Africa wanted pressure to be intensified on individuals, banks and financial institutions to alert the authorities to suspicious transactions. Several countries reported having used funds seized from illegal operations to finance drug prevention projects and addict rehabilitation.

On the other hand, Ghana cautioned against quick conclusions about the lack of political will of those countries which had not yet taken action in this regard. The economic reality, said that delegate, was that questioning potential investors about the source of their money was not always easy or appropriate, especially if the investments in question fulfilled the requirements of a country's investment laws.

International Cooperation

On the subject of international cooperation, many delegates felt that the old dichotomy between producer and consumer countries had given way to the principle of "shared responsibility" between nations for the drug problem, a concept which France said must remain the cornerstone in international drug control. This change in orientation was said by the Netherlands to be fuelled in part by the growing trend towards abuse of synthetic substances which can

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be produced close to the point of consumption. Several speakers maintained that the "era of finger-pointing" in international drug policy was now over.

Among the proposals was a call by the United States for defining drug trafficking-related crimes as extraditable offences in extradition treaties.

Stimulants and Precursors

A shift in drug abuse patterns towards such substances as "Speed" and "Ecstasy", particularly in North America, Europe and parts of Asia, was described as a "formidable threat to international society in the next century".

The trend towards synthetic drugs was all the more alarming, according to delegates, because these substances could be manufactured from readily accessible chemicals by relatively unskilled people close to the point of supply. Shipments of precursors or essential chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of drugs were being diverted to illegal drugs factories in many parts of the world. Under the present list system, however, no sooner would one substance be listed, than a substitute would appear.

On the demand side, several speakers saw a need for a better understanding of why young people were attracted to stimulants. Some stressed that promotion of psychotropic substances to the general public was prohibited under article 10 of the 1971 treaty and called for action to remove such information from the Internet.

The licit use of stimulants as anorectics in weight control programmes and as a treatment for behavioural problems in children needed to be monitored for possible health consequences, several delegates urged.

Treatment of Addicts

Several countries with severe drug problems said their governments could not conduct "meaningful drug programmes" due to a lack of resources. With more than 60 per cent of people in prisons linked in some way to illicit drugs, one delegate said, it was imperative to rehabilitate addicts.

Controversy arose over recent action on the part of a few States to liberalize their drug laws or to de-penalizing drug abuse, when most countries were trying to eradicate the crime and social ills associated with illicit drugs. The view was expressed that the legalization of so-called soft drugs, such as cannabis, could be seen as providing an incentive or invitation to young people to experiment with drugs, when they might not otherwise have done so.

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Also debated were the pros and cons of allowing narcotics to be prescribed to addicts, as is being tried in a limited number of experimental projects. An experimental programme under way since 1992 in Switzerland, in which heroin and other narcotics were provided to heroin addicts, was criticized by a number of delegations in light of the possible affect on public attitude towards drug taking. Present treaty restrictions limit the prescription of narcotics to exclusively medical and scientific purposes, but whether treatment of addiction constitutes a legitimate medical use is a matter of national regulations, which can differ from one country to another.

The President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), an independent body which monitors world drug abuse and trafficking trends, told the Commission that in the Board's view, the proliferation of radically liberal attitudes and legitimization of non-medical use of drugs under the umbrella of "harm reduction" was not justifiable and posed a danger to the international drug control system itself in that advocates of legalization were using the trials to achieve their own objectives.

A World Health Organization (WHO)-coordinated evaluation of the Swiss studies had not yet been formally issued, a WHO representative told the Commission his agency strongly recommended that Member States work with proven methods of treatment, such as oral methadone. He said advocacy of the non-medical use of heroin without medical supervision was not founded on any scientific or practical experiments and was likely to be harmful to any country.

The Commission in 1995, aware of growing advocacy of the controlled supply of heroin to addicts, requested the Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme to solicit opinions from the INCB and the WHO on this question for consideration by the Commission.

Resolutions

By the resolution on cooperation in drug control between the Zone of Peace and cooperation in the South Atlantic and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, the Economic and Social Council would urge States in the region which have not yet already done so to become parties to the international drug control treaties and would commend those countries for launching a regional drug-control initiative.

Under the text on analysis of regional and global demand reduction strategies, the Commission encouraged the Drug Control Programme to continue collecting information and statistics on the world-wide demand for illicit drugs and on efforts to reduce it. It asked the Executive Director of the Programme, in collaboration with the WHO and international non-governmental organizations, to assess the existing means of treating drug abuse.

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In another resolution, on commendation of the pilot maritime drug law enforcement project of the Drug Control Programme, the Commission noted the grave danger posed by the illicit traffic by sea of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and expressed appreciation for the work of the Programme's pilot project on maritime drug law enforcement training and model legislation, which was elaborating a training guide on maritime drug law enforcement. It noted that a trial regional maritime training seminar for the region of Asia and the Pacific will be held, utilizing the draft training guide, in October in Japan, after which the guide will be completed and made available to interested governments.

Under the same text, the Commission looked forward to the convening of an expert group meeting to prepare model legislation on maritime drug law enforcement and asked Governments support that effort.

In approving a text submitted by the Commission's Subcommission on Illicit Drug Traffic and Related Matters in the Near and Middle East, recommended that the Economic and Social Council urge States to implement the "Baku Accord", a regional drug control cooperation agreement that was adopted by the subsidiary body on 17 February.

Under the Accord, the States of the region agreed to join forces to train drug law enforcement personnel, eradicate illicit cultivation and share information and expertise.

In a separate text, the Council is asked, in view of the importance of Russian as a lingua franca of drug control agencies in Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, to provide for its use along with English and Arabic as a working language of the Subcommission.

By a resolution on law enforcement and judicial cooperation, the Commission requested the General Assembly at its special session on international drug control to be held in 1998, to consider ways to promote the adoption of legislation designed to enhance judicial and law enforcement cooperation in accordance with the 1998 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. It also encouraged Governments to set up flexible procedures to go after the leadership of illicit trafficking organizations and seize their proceeds and assets.

The Commission approved a draft resolution on strengthening the United Nations machinery for international drug control, which expressed "deep alarm" at the magnitude of the rising trend in the illicit production, supply, demand, trafficking and distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and noting with concern that the Drug Control Programme depending largely on voluntary contributions from a small number of Member States, was suffering from a general decline in resources.

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The draft would have the Council convene a group of independent experts to review the evolution of United Nations drug control efforts to identify ways to strengthen the Programme's core activities.

By a resolution on anti-drug strategy in the Americas, the Commission welcomed the joint efforts of States of the hemisphere to adopt a strategy for dealing with the drug problem in that region, thus significantly strengthening the Global Programme of Action that was adopted by the General Assembly in 1990.

In a draft on demand for and supply of opiates for medical and scientific needs, the Council would urge all Governments to continue contributing to the maintenance of a balance between the illicit supply of and demand for opiates for medical and scientific needs, and to prevent diversion of opiate raw materials to illicit channels.

Under a text on comprehensive measures to counter amphetamine-type stimulants and their precursors, the Council would endorse the recommendations of an Expert Meeting on Amphetamine-type Stimulants held at Shanghai, China, last November, and would invite the United Nations International Drug Control Programme to consider the use of the Internet and other media tools to disseminate accurate and reliable information on amphetamine-type stimulants and their precursors. The Council would also request governments to provide available evidence and data to the INCB on the chemicals which are frequently used in the manufacture of amphetamine-type stimulants, and would ask the Board to assess this information for a possible international special surveillance list. It would urge governments to consider applying civil, criminal and administrative sanctions to those who knowingly supply non-controlled chemicals for the illicit manufacture of amphetamine-type stimulants and to establish the necessary legal basis for the prevention of the clandestine manufacture of and trafficking in new amphetamine-type substances.

Under a text on availability of opiates for medical needs, the Commission recognized that a number of Governments as well as national and international health organizations, including the WHO, have called for greater availability of opiates to relieve the pain and suffering of medical patients afflicted with cancer and AIDS. It urged all governments to consider, as a matter of priority, adopting the recommendations of the INCB on this question and asked the Board to reassess the situation in the year 2000.

Regarding the financing of Drug Control Programme activities, the Council is being asked to approve the reconvening of the Commission in December to approve an initial budget for 1998-1999 and updated estimates for 1996-1997. The Commission took note of revised estimates for project activities for 1996-1997 totalling $109 million and a proposed outline for 1998-1999 totalling $162 million.

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Under a draft resolution on the organization of the Commission's next session, the Council would authorize the Commission to devote five days of its 1998 session to preparations for the 1998 Assembly session on drug questions. The special session will take place in New York in June 1998.

Officers

The following officers were elected for the Commission: Sergio Gonzalez Galvez (Mexico), Chairman; Mohamed Shaarawy (Egypt), Sumaryo Suryokosumo (Indonesia) and Dumitru Lupuliasa (Romania), Vice-Chairmen; and Roslyn Simms (Australia), Rapporteur.

Officers to administer preparations for the special session were elected during the preparatory segment. They are: Chairman, Alvaro Mendonca e Moura (Portugal); First Vice-Chairman, Alberto Scavarelli (Uruguay); Vice-Chairmen, Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko (South Africa), Daniela Rozgonova (Slovak Republic) and N.K. Singh (India). Mr. Singh will also act as Rapporteur.

Participation

Representatives of the following countries took part in the session: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Holy See, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe.

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