Developed nations promised aid to curtail drug demand; London Summit tightens measures against cocaine threat.

Developed nations promised aid to curtail drug demand

A commitment by developed countries to help developing nations curtail drug demand was among agreements reached at a three-day international summit against drugs (9-11 April), organized in London by the United Kingdom Government, in association with the United Nations.

The World Ministerial Summit to Reduce the Demand for Drugs and to Combat the Cocaine Threat ended with the adoption by consensus of a Declaration by which 124 countries, both developed and developing, committed themselves to give higher priority to prevention and reduction of illicit drug demand at the national and international levels.

The Declaration stresses that particular efforts should be made "at local community and neighbourhood levels and at the level of the individual family, to address local problems as perceived by the community, which may mitigate the initiation and continuation of drug misuse".

To reduce drug demand in the workplace, it recommends that employers be encouraged to develop and implement drug prevention programmes. Counselling, treatment, rehabilitation and social reintegration of drug abusers are among promising measures to help reduce demand, it stated.

To combat the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the Summit called for "more strenuous efforts to be made by all countries to draw a greater number of drug abusers, particularly those who inject, into contact with treatment services and agencies".

Combating the cocaine threat would require "comprehensive and multidisciplinary" strategies comprising measures to reduce illicit demand for cocaine and other drugs, eliminate illicit crop cultivation and drug trafficking, prevent the use of financial and banking systems for drug money laundering and promote effective treatment, rehabilitation and social reintegration.

The Declaration backs a proposal to convene an international conference on precursor chemicals used in illicit drug production. That proposal was made in the 1990 Global Programme of Action unanimously adopted, together with a Political Declaration, by the General Assembly at its special session to combat drug abuse last February.

A high-level meeting

Some 650 participants, most at the ministerial level, attended the Summit, the first such international gathering that specifically focused on drug demand reduction.

UN drug control bodies and other UN agencies, as well as major intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations such as the European Economic Community, also sent expert representatives.

The London Summit was chaired by David Waddington, Secretary of State for Home Affairs of the United Kingdom. Work was conducted in two committees open to all participants--one on demand reduction; the other on the cocaine threat. David Mellor, Minister of State at the Home Office, presided over the demand reduction committee. The cocaine threat committee was chaired by Lynda Chalker, Minister of Overseas Development, and Timothy Sainsbury, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The Summit was opened on 9 April by United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar and Colombia President Virgilio Barco-Vargas also addressed the meeting. Keynote presentations were made by Kenneth McNeill, Minister without Portfolio of Jamaica, on demand reduction, and Antonio Gava, Italy's Minister of the Interior, on the cocaine threat.

Princess Anne of the United Kingdom spoke on drug abuse and young people at a plenary meeting. The Summit's closing statements were made by Mr. Waddington and by Margaret J. Anstee, Coordinator of all UN drug control-related activities.

"No glamour in

drugs. . ."

British Prime Minister Thatcher stated that efforts to reduce illicit drug production and prevent trafficking would never succeed while there was still demand for them. Reducing demand, she said, is less dramatic and newsworthy than arresting traffickers. But without customers, these drug merchants would soon be out of business.

"There is no glamour in drugs, only depravity and despair", Mrs. Thatcher said. Advertising and publicity might sometimes have to be "painfully explicit" about the consequences of drug use in order to deter more people, particularly the very young.

Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar stated that a more favourable international climate in which to tackle the global drug problem now existed: "We no longer speak of 'those at fault' or of 'victims', but of 'shared responsibility'."

He suggested mobilizing support from young environmentalists against drug abuse by pointing to the link between drug cultivation and environmental degradation. There was also a need, he added, to enhance public information campaigns on the relationship between drug addiction and AIDS.

Colombian President Barco-Vargas said that it was imperative to "reformulate the UN institutions which were responsible for, but lacked the power and resources to curb the problem". There was general agreement on the need to set up an agency to provide effective, definite guidance and coordination in the battle, he said.

How much are people

willing to pay?

Addressing the Summit on 10 April, Princess Anne said that asking producers in developing countries to stop growing coca leaves was like asking Scots to stop growing barley or the French, grapes. What had to be decided in the developed world was how much people would be willing to pay for such commodities as coffee and cotton, which could serve as substitute crops.

Cutting production, intercepting traffickes and reducing demand, all had to be approached together. But it would be foolish to think that demand would be completely wiped out, she said. However, to reduce demand it was necessary to attack some popular myths, including that it was "fashionable to be a slave to a passing sensation".

United Kingdom Home Secretary Waddington said at the closing session that some real progress had been achieved regarding the cocaine threat. While crop substitution in producer countries was a positive strategy, account must be taken of the need for a market for new crops, he stated.

Mr. Waddington applauded the UN decision to review the structure of its Vienna-based drug bodies and hoped that the result would be one unified drug body under a full-time head, for "maximum effect". He also hoped that the UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control--"the leading edge of the UN effort"--would go "from strength to stength" with increased support from the developed world.

UN drug activities co-ordinator Anstee called the summit discussions "intense, wide-ranging and valuable". But, she added, "clearly the conference must be followed by deeds."

The regular UN budget for core anti-drug activities was roughly the equivalent of the street value of one suitcase full of heroin, Ms. Anstee remarked, calling on the international community for a very substantial funding increase.

As with any institution, the structure of UN drug units in Vienna could be improved, she said. Based on an ongoing review, the Secretary-General would present proposals at the end of this year. She hoped the international community would deal with the matter "in a pragmatic way".