UN expert panel urges governments to do more to reduce demand for drugs

In a bid to cut the nexus between drug abuse and violent crime, a United Nations expert panel today called on governments across the world to introduce more comprehensive policies to reduce public demand for illegal narcotics.

Releasing its annual report in Vienna, the International Narcotics Board (INCB) recommended that States support local efforts towards legal employment, foster an environment that makes drug dealing difficult, and introduce anti-drug educational programmes targeting socially marginalized groups.

Highlighting the impact of drug abuse on communities, the report stresses that even though most drug-related crime is non-violent, the effect is still “highly damaging” in local areas.

INCB President Philip O. Emafo said “drug abuse is often linked with anti-social behaviour such as delinquency, crime, and violence and has negative consequences for individuals, families, neighbourhoods and communities.”

The report reiterates the Board's concerns about the impact of harm reduction policies – which generally aim to help abusers avoid danger – in some countries, specifically citing the operation of drug injection rooms as a “source of grave concern.”

Speaking to reporters today, Vincent McLean, the New York representative of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the INCB believes a drug injection room in Vancouver, Canada, to be in contravention of the provisions of international narcotics control treaties.

Mr. McLean said drug trafficking groups often have violent confrontations as they compete for market share, and can turn some places into “no-go areas for the general public.”

The annual report calls on national authorities to be on alert for the growing trade in illegal pharmaceuticals over the Internet and to police this problem more closely.

In another section of the report, the INCB criticizes Turkmenistan's failure to cooperate with the international community in the battle against illicit drugs.

The Central Asian nation, which shares a long border with Afghanistan, has not reported any seizures of opiates or precursor chemicals since 2000, even though “significant quantities” were reported in previous years.

The INCB added that Turkmenistan is the only one of Afghanistan's neighbours that is not participating in an international monitoring operation focusing on a chemical used to make heroin, and has not been actively involved in other regional drug control schemes.

The INCB is an independent body established by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to monitor governments' compliance with the international drug control treaties. Its 13 members are elected by the UN Economic and Social Council to serve five-year terms.