Cnd: International Action for Drug Control

Topic：International Action for Drug Control

Instruction of the Commission

General Introduction

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs is the central drug policy-making body within the United Nations system. Its predecessor, the Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs, was established by the first Assembly of the League of Nations on December 15, 1920. The Advisory Committee held its first meeting from May 2 to May 5, 1921, and continued its activities until 1940 . The Commission on Narcotic Drugs was established by the UN Economic and Social Council in 1946, with Canadian Charles Henry Ludovic Sharman as its first chair. The Commission has important functions under the drug control treaties in force today. Most notably, it can amend the schedules of controlled substances

Functions

As a functional Commission of the Economic and Social Council, the Commission assists the Council in supervising the application of international conventions and agreements dealing with narcotic drugs. It also advises the Council on all matters pertaining to the control of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors.

Membership

The Commission consists of 53 states, serving 4-year terms, with the following distribution of seats among regions:

Eleven for African States;

Eleven for Asian States;

Ten for Latin American and Caribbean States;

Seven for Eastern European States;

Fourteen for Western European and other States;

One seat to rotate between the Asian, and the Latin American and Caribbean States every four years.

Brief Introduction of International Drug Control

In the past decade, drug control has matured. Policy has become more responsive to the needs of those most seriously affected, along the whole chain of the drug industry from poor farmers who cultivate it, to desperate addicts who consume it, as well as those caught in the cross-fire of the traffickers. Countries are learning from each others' experiences, and drawing on expertise from the international community.

Drug control is also increasingly taking a more balanced approach, focused on development, security, justice and health to reduce supply and demand, and disrupting illicit flows. There is an understanding that in regions where illicit crops are grown, it is vital to eradicate poverty, not just drugs. There is a realization that underdevelopment makes countries vulnerable to drug trafficking, and other forms of organized crime: therefore development is part of drug control, and vice versa.

Most importantly, we have returned to the roots of drug control, placing health at the core of drug policy. By recognizing that drug addiction is a treatable health condition, we have developed scientific, yet compassionate, new ways to help those affected. Slowly, people are starting to realize that drug addicts should be sent to treatment, not to jail. And drug treatment is becoming part of mainstream healthcare.

Many of these principles are now taken for granted and it is often forgotten that, at the turn of the century, many countries relied on income from drug production and trade to cover state finances and trade shortfalls, and/or tolerated the unregulated consumption of narcotic substances. It took the best part of five decades to influence health and safety and trade regulations and for governments to begin to codify the basic principles of the international drug control system into international law. Changes were not entirely due to the parallel development of the modern multilateral system, but the system definitely helped to achieve them.

These two positive century long developments, (i) the establishment of an international consensus on the regulation of psychoactive substances, and (ii) the development of a set of normative instruments and multilateral bodies and systems under which to help countries to adjudicate and implement them, had a number of unintended consequences. The most serious of which, the emergence of a large and violent illicit drug industry, has spared few countries on this earth.

Despite the recognition of universality and multilateral consensus, and the fortunate coincidence of occurring parallel to the development of a modern, powerful United Nations, moving the issue of drug control to the international agenda also resulted from special windows of opportunities and dedicated individuals. The history is rich and varied enough to fill a larger volume. The present volume is not a diplomatic history, it aims only to present the basic historical development of the modern drug control system: why and how it arose, how it impacted drug production and consumption and its legacy for present and future international drug control efforts.

Drug Trends

Globally, UNODC estimates that between 155 and 250 million people, or 3.5% to 5.7% of the population aged 15-64, had used illicit substances at least once in the previous year. Cannabis users comprise the largest number of illicit drug users (129-190 million people).Amphetamine-type stimulants are the second most commonly used illicit drugs, followed by opiates and cocaine. However, in terms of harm associated with use, opiates would be ranked at the top.

A comprehensive understanding of the extent of the drug use problem requires a review of several indicators the magnitude of drug use measured by prevalence (lifetime, annual, past 30 days) in the general population, the potential of problem drug use as measured by drug use among young people, and costs and consequences of drug use measured by treatment demand, drug-related morbidity and mortality. Additionally, to understand the dynamics of drug use in a country or region, it is important to look at the overall drug situation rather than merely the trends for individual drugs. This information helps to discern the extent to which market dynamics (availability, purity and price) have temporarily influenced the use, compared to results of long-term efforts such as comprehensive prevention programmes and other interventions to address the drug use situation.

To illustrate, long-term trends in use of different drugs and overall drug use are presented for the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia and Spain where trend data over a longer period of time is available. Although short-term changes and trends might be observed in the use of different drugs, long-term trends suggest that the magnitude