.The 55th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs has been held in Vienna from 12-16 March 2012
The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meets annually to asses the state of implementation of the UN action plan adopted along with the political declaration at the High Level Special Session of 2009.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) submits to CN annual reports for the various areas where Member States have decided to prioritize. The reports are discussed in the plenary and representatives of the Member States make relevant interventions about the drugs situation in their country. More
The President of Bolivia stole the show at the opening session of the 55th CND.
The President of Bolivia Evo Morales was again this year present at the CND to ask support for the right of the people of Bolivia to grow the coca plant as they traditionally have done since 3.000 years. In his last year's speech President Morales had stated that the decision of the "international community" to ban the chewing of coca leaves was wrong. The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, made a historical mistake, that can be corrected, he said. The coca leaf is not cocaine, nor has harmful health effects as cocaine or other controlled drugs. More
100 years of Drug Control Conventions
It is hundred years ago that the first International Convention on Drugs has been adopted. In 1912 the International Opium Convention has been signed in the Hague. It was the start of a series of legislative measures to control the production and trafficking of certain psychotropic substances. In 1912 the problem that the "international community" wanted to settle was the production and use of opium. After that hundreds of other substances have been subject to International Control resulting in the current three International Drug Control Conventions..
During the 55th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs a special plenary session has been organised to commemorate the 100 years of the drug control system. It was a simple and modest celebration event with two major speeches one by the Director of the Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Mr. Fedotov and the other by the President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) Mr. Ghodse.
The Limits of Latitude
With the title "The limits of Latitude", the Transnational Institute (TNI) published a briefing paper which explains how the international conventions on drugs are implemented by the member states how they have been converted into national legislation, the room of manoeuvre they allow to members states to formulate legislation that fits best in their situation and the limitations that the conventions pose to national states . The paper sets out what can be done in the framework of the conventions, the use of room that does not violate the conventions and the limits of a broad interpretation where the conventions need to be challenged. In a working group at a side event of the 55th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs an extensive discussion on the future of international treaties took place. Representatives of member states delegations, representatives of international organisations (UN, WHO, etc.), scientists and experts from non-governmental organisations took part at the discussion. More
The Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC) organised its first informal Civil Society hearing on drugs.
In many of the UN commissions, participation of NGOs is institutionalized. The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs is one of the commissions that is moving to more openness to civil society, but not yet to the degree that it should. In recent years, especially from 2008 onwards NGOs are gaining more and more ground for active participation in the CND and get recognition for their contribution. NGOs have the right to participate in discussions and express their views, to organise events during the annual session such as the informal dialogues with the Chairman of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the President of the International Narcotics Control Board. This year the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs took an initiative which is another step towards strengthening the institutional character of the NGO presence at the CND, by organizing the first informal hearing of civil society. This hearing has been held as an informal event to acquaint the Commission with the concept of the Civil Society Hearing (CSH) and to demonstrate its value in informing issues of relevance to CND.
The overarching objective of the CSH is to: More
Intervention by the Greek Delegation to the 55th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
The Greek delegation at the 55th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs made on agenda item 6a "demand reduction and related matters" a brief intervention reporting the dramatic increase of HIV cases among injecting drug users that was observed in Greece and particularly in Athens during the previous year. The Greek delegation emphasized that "epidemiological analysis based on the majority of new cases of HIV cases suggests high levels of transmission networking as well as a possible role of immigrants Intravenous Drug Users in the initiation of the 2001 outbreak. In order to face this serious problem, we have taken specific actions, including among others the upgrading of the quality and coverage of needles syringes programs and the upgrading of the coverage and quality of opioids' substitution programs. At the same time, an international meeting aiming at strengthening the cooperation among Balkan countries on controlling the spread of HIV and other communicable deseases took place in November 2011 in Athens. It is worth noting that it was reported that some of the Balkan countries were facing similar threats. We believe that this problem is beyond national policies. International cooperation is indispensable. Therefore we urge INODC to prioritize this issue and cooperate closely with UNAIDS and the national authorities of member states for the implementation of the WHO Technical Guide for the reduction of the transmissible diseases among drug users. Finally, we would appreciate an active involvement and technical support by UNODC for the monitoring and evaluation of the developments on this important issue.
The fourth meeting of the Drug Policy Network in South East Europe took place in Vienna from 8-10 March 2012
From 8-10 March the fourth meeting of the Drug Policy Network in South East Europe took place in Vienna Austria. Ten (10) NGOs from 10 countries in the region participated at the meeting. The program included a discussion with the National Drug Coordinator of Austria Dr. Franz Pietsch, a visit to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and a visit to the institution "DIALOG", Integrative Addiction treatment. At the offices of the UN the group met with the Unit of the UN agency responsible for communication with the organisations of Civil Society (Civil Society Unit), the UNODC Regional office for South Eastern Europe, the Unit for Prevention, Treatment and social rehabilitation and the Unit responsible for HIV/AIDS. It was a good opportunity that made possible to have direct contact with the relevant UN bodies for the Region of SE Europe and to discuss issues of common concern.A detailed report of the meeting will be published soon More
From Evidence to Practice, the report of the conference in Ljubljana
From 12-14 December 2011 the Conference of Correlation European Network on Social Inclusion & Health, has been held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The Association DIOGENIS, and the Drug Policy Network in South-Eastern Europe have actively been involved in the programme of the conference. DIOGENIS organised, in collaboration with Correlation, a forum discussion at the closing plenary session of the conference on the issue of "Drug Policy Reform, from evidence to practice." See the report of the Conference in Ljubljana More
Informal Dialogue Meeting on Drugs, Athens February 9, 2012
On the initiative of the Association Diogenes, Drug Policy Dialogue in South Eastern Europe, an informal dialogue has been held on 9 february 2012 in the premises of OKANA in Athens. The series of informal dialogues in Greece aim to inform NGOs and agencies working in the field on developments concerning drug policy and to exchange views on issues associated with drugs. At this first meeting the following topics have been discussed:
-Future perspectives for the drug situation in Greece.-The European Commission proposal for a stronger response to drugs and the new strategy 2012- 2020 of the European Union.-The initiative of the Drug Policy Network in South Eastern Europe and the topics for discussion at the upcoming meetings. More
Shortage of Methadone in Albania. Service provider Aksion Plus is asking Albanian Government to take measures.
Aktion plus sounds the alarm bell about running out of their methadone stock because of delays of the next shipment procurement from USA. Aksion plus expects that the methadone will arrive by the first/second week of May, and in the meanwhile they are desperately trying to manage what they have in hands. They have in stock a small quantity of methadone of 40mg tablets only for the next week providing therapy only for those most in need - other cities have some few leftover, or are closing in the meanwhile. More
