Press Briefing on the Activities and Agenda of the CND and International Drug Control Policies

UNIS Vienna today organized a press briefing on the activities and agenda of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and international drug control policies at the Vienna International Centre. Ambassador Sheel Kant Sharma, Chairman, Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), Hamid Ghodse, President, International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), addressed the media. The briefing was chaired and moderated by Nasra Hassan, Director UNIS and Spokesperson UNODC.

Mr. Sharma opened the briefing by introducing the agenda of the 48^th session of the CND, which is currently being held at the United Nations (Vienna). He welcomed the statements made by Mr. Costa and Mr. Ghodse at the opening of the session, and said that there was much to accomplish despite the many challenges that lay ahead.

Mr. Costa described how drug control policies have evolved and observed that there was a strong consensus in support of the United Nations Conventions. He said that while controlling drug production, trafficking and abuse were the Conventions’ primary focus, there were scores of drug-related problems in the world, all requiring policy-makers’ attention. He highlighted the spread of HIV/AIDS due to injections, drug-abuse related accidents on the roads and, a cultural proclivity to life-long substance abuse, via exposure to such events as rave parties.

Mr. Ghodse emphasized the dichotomy of supply and demand of drugs and their effect on each other; adding that cooperation between countries was crucial. He also highlighted the illicit crop cultivation in Afghanistan and the gravity of the current situation.

The briefing was well attended by media representatives from leading international news agencies including Associated Press, Agence France Presse, EFE and Kyodo News.

UNIS Vienna also organized three other press encounters on Russia’s role in the global fight against drugs, with Alexander Fyodorov, Deputy Director, Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation; on US Drug Control Policies – Goals and Results with John P. Walters, Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy, US; and on Italy’s role in the global fight against drugs with Alfredo Mantovano, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Home Affairs, Italy. Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director UNODC was present at the briefings, which were chaired and moderated by Nasra Hassan, Director UNIS and Spokesperson UNODC.

* *** *