‘Most Essential Strategy for Halting Flow of Drugs’ Is Prevention, Says Secretary-General, Marking International Day

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, observed on 26 June:

The global illicit drug trade continues to exact a devastating toll:  claiming lives, ravaging public health services and fuelling violence and organized crime.

Drug trafficking is tearing through communities with substances that are more potent, more dangerous and more deadly than ever.  Meanwhile, criminal networks prey on the most vulnerable — particularly women and youth — as they rake in hundreds of billions annually through the illicit drug trade.

This year, we shine a light on prevention as the most essential strategy for halting the flow of drugs that fuels organized crime worldwide.

We must reduce demand through investing in education, treatment, harm-reduction measures and care; target the machinery of production by eliminating illicit laboratories and offering farmers viable alternatives; and sever trafficking networks by strengthening global trade routes and choking the financial flows of criminal networks, while always ensuring respect for human rights.

Let us recommit to ending drug abuse and trafficking, uniting to dismantle criminal networks and breaking the cycle of suffering and destruction once and for all.