INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD WORKING ON WAYS TO COUNTER `ACCEPTABLE IMAGE' OF DRUG USAGE
Press Release
SOC/NAR/772
INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD WORKING ON WAYS TO COUNTER `ACCEPTABLE IMAGE' OF DRUG USAGE
19971107 Positive Portrayals in Popular Culture Cause Concern; Recommendation for Action Likely in Forthcoming ReportVIENNA, 6 November (UN Information Service) -- The challenge of preventing drug abuse in an environment of illicit drug promotion will be reviewed by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) during its current session which began in Vienna today. The subject was chosen by the Board for special emphasis in its next annual report, which is due out next February.
The Board, an independent body established by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, monitors compliance by governments with the international drug control treaties. Its 13 members are elected by the Economic and Social Council to serve in their individual capacities.
The Board has noted that drugs appear to once again enjoy a more acceptable image, and analyses the present environment of pro-drug messages. It takes account, in particular, to the positive portrayals of drugs in popular culture, certain media and on the Internet, a medium increasingly popular among young people. The Board further examines government responsibilities on this issue, and how strategies to prevent drug abuse can be effective in such an environment.
The forthcoming report will also review world drug abuse and trafficking and measures against them taken by governments throughout the world.
Since its last report was issued in March, the Board has sent investigative missions to Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Mozambique, Nigeria, Peru, Romania, Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan and Viet Nam. Technical visits were made to Australia (Tasmania), Cyprus, Japan, South Africa, Thailand and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The new session was preceded by a three-day meeting of the Board's standing committee on estimates, which establishes limits to be set by the Board on the amounts of drugs needed by countries for medical and scientific
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purposes. The Board is reviewing current trends in the supply of opiate raw materials and the demand for opiates, with a view to ensuring their availability for legitimate purposes.
The members of the Board are: Edouard Armenakovich Babayan (Russian Federation), Chinmay Chakrabarty (India), Dr. Nelia P. Cortes-Maramba (Philippines), Jacques Franquet (France), Dr. Hamid Ghodse (Iran), Alfonso Gomez Mendez (Colombia), Dil Jan Khan (Pakistan), Antonio Lourenco Martins (Portugal), Mohamed Mansour (Egypt), Herbert S. Okun (United States), Dr. Alfredo Pemjean (Chile), Oskar Schroeder (Germany) and Elba Torres Graterol (Venezuela).
The current session -- the Board's sixty-third -- runs through 20 November.
For more information, contact UNIS Vienna, tel: (43-1) 21345-4666, fax: (43-1) 21345-5899, e-mail: vpetzoldt@unvienna.un.or.at
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