Distinguished Turkish academic chosen to head UN anti-narcotics panel

A Turkish professor of biochemistry and forensic science has been elected as the next President of the independent body which monitors the implementation of United Nations drug control conventions.

Sevil Atasoy will become the new head of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the Vienna-based body’s Board announced today.

The first woman to hold the post in nearly two decades, Ms. Atasoy, the founding editor of the Turkish Journal of Legal Medicine and author of more than 100 scientific papers on drug-related issues, will serve as INCB President for one year.

She replaces Hamid Ghodse, Iranian physician and professor, as head of the panel.

The ICNB Board is currently holding its 95th session, with ensuring drug availability for medical purposes among the main topics of discussion.

Participants are also conferring on the issue of the coca leaf, which, according to the 1961 Convention on Narcotic Drugs, should only be used for medical or scientific purposes and for preparing flavouring agents.

INCB members serve in an individual capacity and monitor compliance with the provisions of the international drug control treaties. The panel ensures that adequate supplies of legal drugs are available for medical and scientific purposes, and makes certain that no leakage from licit sources of drugs to illicit trafficking occurs. It also identifies and helps to correct weaknesses in drug control systems and determines which chemicals used to manufacture drugs should be under international control.