PRESS BRIEFING ON 1997 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD REPORT

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON 1997 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD REPORT

The 1997 report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) was filled with good news and bad news, said Herbert Okun (United States), a member of the Board, at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon. The report analyses the global drug control situation, drawing governments' attention to gaps and weaknesses in treaty compliance and suggesting improvements.

The INCB, which consists of 13 members elected by the Economic and Social Council to serve in their personal capacity, is mandated to work with governments to limit the cultivation and production of drugs to an amount adequate for scientific and medical use, to ensure that adequate supplies are available for those purposes, and to prevent drug abuse and illicit trafficking.

Mr. Okun said it was important to note the increased cooperation between national governments and international institutions and between the governments themselves. "The era of finger-pointing is over", he said. Recently there had been a decline in the conflicts that had persisted for decades between the North and South, and between consumer countries and the producer countries of illicit drugs. States had realized that they were in the struggle against drug abuse together. Developing countries, many of which were producing countries, had witnessed an increase in drug use in their own countries. The traditional consumer countries had also realized that working on supply reduction was not enough.

Mr. Okun said the report also noted the increase of the seizures of precursors, which were the chemical substances that were not drugs in themselves but were used in the processing or manufacture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances.

Another positive development was the withdrawal by the United States Food and Drug Administration of the dangerous diet preparation known as "phen/fen", Mr. Okun said. The INCB had pointed out the dangers of phen/fen in its 1996 report and had worked together with United States health authorities to "blow the whistle" on that dangerous substance.

Mr. Okun said the rise in the consumption of methylphenidate in the United States was among the bad news contained in the report. That drug was prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit disorder, and the shifting diagnoses as to what constituted attention deficit disorder was problematical. In addition, while phen/fen had been withdrawn from the market, phentermine -- a controlled substance -- was still available and was used to combat obesity and to cause weight loss.

The situation concerning psychotropic drugs was bad worldwide, Mr. Okun said. The use of those synthetic drugs, including "ecstasy", "ice", "shabu" and other amphetamine-type substances, continued to grow. They were usually produced in the industrialized countries of the North and shipped to the developing countries, but some developing countries were also producing those substances.

The huge increase in drug abuse in the States of the former Soviet Union and the new democracies of Eastern and Central Europe was another worrisome development, he said. The report includes alarming statistics about the increase of drug abuse in the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus, and the increase in the occurrence of HIV infection.

Mr. Okun said the report also drew attention to the glamorization of drugs, and the permissive environment in which demand reduction programmes were being carried out. The glamorization of illicit substances made it harder for the INCB to fulfil the objectives of United Nations conventions. The United Nations, the INCB and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs would address that issue, among others, at the General Assembly's special session on international drug control, which would take place from 8 to 10 June at Headquarters. More people should be aware that the United Nations had led the way in banning the use and abuse of illicit drugs for the health and benefit of all the world's people, he added.

A correspondent asked if there had been an increase in drug use among young people. Mr. Okun said it depended on the country and the drug being addressed. Youth also used substances that were not controlled but were subject to serious abuse. Very young people were sniffing glue and inhaling aerosol products. He hoped that the INCB would soon take up that sad and tragic problem.

Did he know that the Secretary-General had made an appeal for global cooperation in solving the drug problem during his press conference today? a correspondent asked. Mr. Okun said the issue of drug control had always enjoyed the support of every Secretary-General and all Member States. That support was evident in the wide adherence to the three United Nations treaties: the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

A correspondent asked if the INCB was doing anything to reign in drug companies that peddled legal drugs by supplying free samples to doctors who then passed them on to their patients. Mr. Okun said many pharmaceutical companies in the United States and other countries had begun to advertise their products directly to the consumer. While it was important to educate consumers, people should not shop for doctors who would give them whatever drug they wanted. Ultimately, it was a question of education, awareness and

Okun Briefing - 3 - 24 February 1998

good health practices on the part of the populace. Governments should also ensure that false claims were not made about drugs.

Did the global permeation of Western culture make combating the glamorization of drugs and drug use more difficult? a correspondent asked. Mr. Okun said that the message of glamorization often travelled from the industrial countries to the developing countries because it typically occurred in music and films. That was the way the products of those industries moved around the world.

Asked if he could explain why there was no longer conflict between the North and the South in addressing the problem of drug control, Mr. Okun said the turning point had been the United Nations International Conference on Drug Abuse, held in Vienna in 1987. That conference had crystallized the notion that all countries were "in the same lifeboat". Now, all States realized that supply reduction and demand reduction were required in containing and eliminating the use and abuse of illicit drugs.

A correspondent asked if the INCB was concerned by reports of drug companies dumping expired drugs, particularly in developing countries. Mr. Okun said United Nations treaties did not cover the selling of a legal drug after its expiry date. That question should be handled at the national level by local health authorities.

What if pharmaceutical companies donated expired drugs to United Nations agencies? the same correspondent asked. Mr. Okun said that in such a case, the agency or programmes should not accept those drugs.

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