PRESS CONFERENCE BY VICE-PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD

PRESS CONFERENCE BY VICE-PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD

The growing trend of treating symptoms rather than actual disorders had essentially created a "pill popping" culture in the West, Herbert S. Okun, Vice-President of the International Narcotics Control Board, told correspondents at a press conference on the Board’s 2000 report.

One of the most challenging issues in the field of drug control was emerging in the developed world, where widespread excessive consumption of controlled substances -- used or prescribed readily to treat people suffering from psychological or social problems -- was becoming socially acceptable.

The "medicalization" of social problems and an increasing dependence on drugs to correct mood and behaviour was one of the main focuses of the 2000 Report of the International Narcotics Control Board, he added.  The report also features a detailed regional analysis of the state of the world drug situation.

While recognizing this trend, Mr. Okun said it was also important to note that progress had been very slow in understanding or identifying the causes of some health conditions.  For example, he said that despite routine diagnoses of hyperactivity in children, there was currently no neurological or physiological evidence that attention deficit disorder existed.  Treatment therefore, tended to be symptomatic and often excessive.  He further noted an increasing reliance on treatments which lead to the use of multiple drugs -- often in irrational combinations  -- over long treatment periods.

Mr. Okun said the Board, an independent and quasi-judicial control body based in Vienna, was charged with monitoring implementation of United Nations drug conventions.  It's primary duty was to ensure an adequate supply of drugs for medicine and science.  By focusing its 2000 report on the excessive consumption of drugs, particularly in developed countries, the Board highlighted a global dichotomy in which there was an under-supply of narcotic drugs for medical purposes in one part of the world and overuse of prescribed medications in another.

Effectively addressing those problems would require the combined work of numerous actors in the drug distribution chain, Mr. Okun said.  It was important to start with the medical profession itself, as it bore an important responsibility for appropriate drug dispensing and prescription.  While national medical associations had undertaken useful initiatives, more needed to be done.  The heavy responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry in curbing excessive drug consumption should also be recognized.  While most manufacturers exhibited responsible and ethical behaviour in promoting their medicines, certain controlled drugs were still actively promoted, even though better and safer alternatives were available.

He went on to say that, contrary to the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, some companies continued to directly advertise psychotropic drugs directly to consumers.  So, as well as appealing to the pharmaceutical industry to demonstrate social responsibility, the Board also called on governments to reduce

indiscriminate consumption through education, training health personnel and advising the general public.

A correspondent noted that the 2000 report paid particular attention to the excessive use of medications and the rise of the Internet, and asked if there a correlation between the two.  Mr. Okun explained that new avenues of availability did indeed contribute to the overuse of certain drugs or medications.  The Board had identified the growing problem in its 1996 report.  The Board had also noted the value of using the Internet for mail order and delivery, particularly in isolated areas.  A good example of that was Australia, he added, where the Government promoted the use of the Internet as a tool for gathering medical information, particularly in the outback, for persons without ready access to physicians or hospitals.

At the same time, however, the Board had seen an "explosive" growth in the illegal prescription of illegal drugs.  While up-to-the-minute statistics were hard to come by, Mr. Okun said anyone could go on the Net and easily find advertisements explaining how to grow cannabis, or recipes for Ecstasy and other illegal substances.  The Board therefore appealed to governments to examine their national legislation or cooperate internationally to find a way to control such illegal activity on the Web.

Another correspondent asked Mr. Okun to discuss the drug situation in Afghanistan.  That situation was not a happy one, Mr. Okun answered.  The report noted that cannabis was being cultivated in huge quantities, and that there were currently no eradication initiatives in place there.  The latest poppy surveys showed only a 10 per cent reduction in growth in the region.  While any reduction was welcome, overall growth was still high after reaching unprecedented levels in 1999.  Indeed, about 75 per cent of the world's opium poppies were still grown in Afghanistan.

It had rarely been reported that Afghanistan warehoused huge stocks of heroin, he added.  It had been estimated that those stocks could supply the world's heroin demand for three to six years, at minimum.  That situation was made even more serious by the fact that, to the Board's knowledge, there had never been an seizure of heroin inside the country.  Neighbouring countries, such as Iran, routinely seized quantities of the drug.  According to the Board’s report,

Mr. Okun said, the huge increase in heroin seizures made in countries in West Asia was an indication that heroin processing in Afghanistan had increased substantially in the last two years.

Another correspondent asked Mr. Okun to highlight the situation in Latin America.  He said that there was no denying that that situation was difficult.  While the use of cocaine and heroin in the United States had declined in recent years, shipments were still large and drug quality was still high.  Most of the heroin used in the United States now came from Colombia.  He noted, however, that the Board was pleased with the increasing cooperation of the governments in the region, which had come up with new and creative ways to address those and other problems.

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