International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

THE images of drug abuse are varied, contradictory, idyllic, oftenviolent. An illiterate peasant farmer tends a field of poppies in the misty, Eden-like setting of a mountainous hamlet in South-East Asia. Half a world away, in South America, vast green fields of marijuana plants and coca bush flourish. The calm, pastoral scenes are repeated, to some degree, in almost every region of the world--throughout the Middle East, in parts of Africa, Europe and North America.

The dangerous harvests are transported within a complexnetwork--ranging from canvas sacks on the backs of camels and donkeys to more sophisticated cartons passing through hidden airstrips or carried across oceans in huge sea containers.

The enormous sums of money garnered from the chainof transactions along the way may be transferred through sun-drenched banks on the main streets of Caribbean island capitals--a "laundering' process permitting the illegal profits to be diverted to other nefarious ends--support for organized crime or international terrorism.

The coveted substances at stake appear in the form of powders,shreds of tobacco, colourless liquids, in glassine bags, tiny glass vials or paper envelopes. They will ultimately reach their destinations--which may range from the dirt-floored tents of nomadic tribesmen to the grimy hallways of big city slums, from tree-lined suburban shopping malls to thickly-carpeted corridors of corporate executive suites.

But the final image is the most chilling: old men with vacanteyes, lifelong addicts, embracing a hookah in the corner of an opium den; heroin "junkies' heating twisted kitchen spoons over a match and swapping dirty hypodermic needles; college athletes "snorting cocaine'; young office workers on a city street corner, laughing and passing around a "joint'; children in a schoolyard "sniffing glue'.

Since civilization began

Drugs have been used since civilization began for medication,meditation, divination and recreation. But at no time in history has there been such grave concern--from Heads of State to the average citizen--over the epidemic nature of drug abuse and the insidious social and financial consequences of illicit trafficking.

"Drug abuse presents as destructive a threat to this andcoming generations as the plagues which swept many parts of the world in earlier centuries,' Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar told the Economic and Social Council on 24 May 1985.

"Illicit drugs, wherever they are produced or used, contaminateand corrupt, weakening the very fabric of society. Increasing world-wide abuse is destroying uncounted useful lives. These problems have already profoundly afflicted every region in the world.' Existing instruments and resources were inadequate to deal with a problem of such magnitude, he said.

"We need a more concerted, a more comprehensive, anda truly world-wide effort to reduce the plague of illicit drugs', he said. Declaring that "the time has come for the United Nations to undertake a bold and new offensive to combat drug trafficking and abuse', Mr. Perez de Cuellar proposed the convening of a world conference at the ministerial level to deal with all aspects of drug abuse.

The year before, on 14 December 1984, the General Assemblyadopted a Declaration on the Control of Drug Trafficking and Drug Abuse (resolution 39/142), stating that the magnitude, scope and widespread pernicious effects of trafficking in narcotic drugs and drug abuse had become "an international criminal activity demanding urgent attention and maximum priority'.

It also affirmed that the illegal production of, demand for,abuse of and trafficking in drugs impeded economic and social progress and constituted a grave threat to the security and development of many countries and peoples, and that eradicating drug trafficking was the collective responsibility of all States.

The Assembly in 1985, responding to the Secretary-General'sinitiative, decided to convene the International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as "an expression of the political will of nations to combat the drug menace'.

To generate universal action

The Conference, which is to be held in Vienna from 17to 26 June 1987, has a mandate "to generate universal action to combat the drug problem in all its forms at the national, regional and international levels and to adopt a comprehensive multidisciplinary outline of future activities which focuses on concrete and substantive issues directly relevant to the problems of drug abuse and illicit trafficking'.

The Conference will serve to raise the level of internationalawareness of the dangers encountered as a result of various drug problems; mobilize the full potential of the United Nations system; reinforce other intergovernmental, local and regional initiatives; and encourage Governments to improve their co-operation and to devote greater resources to combat drug abuse and trafficking.

It would focus on the following key areas: promotion ofeducation and community participation in the prevention and reduction of the illicit demand for drugs; crop substitution and other methods of reduction of supply; improved methods to limit the use of narcotics to medical and scientific purposes; forfeiture of illegally acquired proceeds and the extradition of persons arrested for drug-related crimes; strengthening of resources of law enforcement authorities; and treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts.

Participating will be representatives of Governments,United Nations bodies and specialized agencies concerned with drug control, and other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The Conference theme--"Yes to Life--No to Drugs'--reflects the view that combating the drug crisis calls for not only "negative' countermeasures--taking addicts off drugs, dismantling international trafficking rings and prosecuting illicit producers and dealers--but also "positive action' to promote and ensure healthy, drug-free living for all individuals and societies.

Focus of Conference: Drug control efforts in the past havebeen aimed primarily at the supply side of the drug economy--at halting illicit production of and trade in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, and preventing their diversion into the illicit market, while ensuring their availability for legitimate scientific and therapeutic use.

But as drug dependence grew to alarming proportions--an estimated 48 million people worldwide now regularly use illicit drugs--the demand side of the equation has assumed increasing importance.

A main premise of the 1987 Drug Conference is that bothdemand and supply--drug abuse and drug trafficking--must be addressed, to solve the global drug problem. The Conference will discuss the deleterious effects of drug abuse on individuals and society, and the need for preventive action, as well as ways to tighten controls on supply.

"The new thing about this Conference', Tamar Oppenheimer,the Conference Secretary-General explained, "is that in addition to strengthening the international community's activities on supply reduction and on the illicit trafficking in drugs . . . [it] will also focus attention on demand reduction and on the treatment of drug addicts and their rehabilitation into society.'

Agenda: The Conference agenda contains two substantiveitems: international co-operation in drug abuse control, and the formulation of a "Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Outline of Future Activities Relevant to the Problems of Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking'.

Two main documents are expected to emerge from theConference. One, to be the main focus of the Conference's work, is the "Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Outline', or "CMO', a compendium of practical action for Governments, the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations, and NGOs in combating drug abuse and trafficking. The draft text before the Conference sets out 35 action targets that are considered "realistically attainable' over the next 10 to 15 years.

The targets are designed to enlist the participation of allsegments of society in the battle against drugs. They address matters relating to four main areas: prevention and reduction of demand, control of supply, suppression of illicit trafficking, and treatment and rehabilitation.

Among issues to be discussed in the context of the Outlineare: ways to promote education and community participation in preventing and reducing demand for illicit drugs; crop substitution as a means of reducing illicit drug supply; dealing with drug abuse in the workplace; improving controls on legal narcotics use; strengthening drug law enforcement; and reconsidering penalties for drug-related crimes.

Conference participants will also consider such mattersas harmonization of national legislation and international drug control treaties; implementation of the major international drug treaties--the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1972 Protocol amending it, and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances; and a new convention on drug trafficking being drafted to address areas not covered in existing treaties.

The second major document emanating from the Conferencewill be a declaration setting priorities for future action against drug abuse and drug trafficking.

Among priorities to be set out in the declaration are:strengthening the operating methods of national and international law enforcement bodies in their efforts against drug trafficking; enlisting contributions from Governments and international financial institutions to expand rural development activities in support of crop eradication and crop substitution schemes; developing and co-ordinating international drug-abuse prevention efforts in schools and the workplace; and promoting more effective and responsible portrayal of drug abuse in the media.

The Conference will also review a number of action-orientedpapers on drug control submitted by United Nations specialized agencies and programmes.

NGOs: The key role of NGOs in drug abuse control hasbeen widely acknowledged, particularly in drug-abuse prevention activities and efforts to ensure proper treatment and rehabilitation of drug abusers. NGO representatives will participate in the Drug Conference as observers, and an NGO Forum will meet concurrently to discuss a variety of topics relating to governmental action proposed in the "Comprehensive Mutlidisciplinary Outline'.

The Forum will offer sessions and workshops on suchtopics as public health policies and drug abuse; promoting rational drug use; law enforcement and the community; problems and needs of developing countries; identification of risk groups; and treatment needs.