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INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION TO ASSESS DRUG TRENDS IN THE REGION AT COLOMBIAN MEETING

Delegates to the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (known by its Spanish acronym, CICAD) are to hear reports on both hemisphere and national trends in narco-trafficking and drug abuse during its 42º regular meeting in Santa Marta on the Colombian Caribbean coast on November 27-30.

An agency of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Commission and its 34 Member States work to reduce the production, trafficking and abuse of drugs in the Americas.
Carlos Albornoz Guerrero, Director of Colombia’s National Office for Narcotic Drugs will give the opening remarks in the inaugural session. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza will also address the delegates. The outgoing chair of CICAD General Paulo Roberto Yog de Miranda Uchôa, National Anti-drug Secretary of Brazil, will also sum up his term in office.

The incoming CICAD chair, Guillermo Francisco Reyes, Colombia’s Vice Minister of Justice, will direct the session proceedings once underway.

Among its main agenda items, the CICAD meeting will review and approve 34 country reports of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM), a peer-review process that evaluates how governments are dealing with the multiple facets of the drug problem. The Commission will receive reports from several experts on the latest trends shaping narco-trafficking and drug consumption throughout the hemisphere and will also discuss how these trends affect their countries. Several national drug commissions have already noted an up-tick in use of a coca-derived street drug called “paco,” which contains toxic impurities that aggravate the damage done by the drug. These street drugs are selling for less than one US dollar per dose.

CICAD’s Inter-American Observatory on Drugs is recommending that all Member States have early alert systems to detect local shifts in drug use so they can adjust their drug abuse prevention programs and control measures accordingly. The meeting will also discuss the issue of alternative development.

At the invitation of the Colombian government, delegates will visit the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta near Colombia’s Caribbean coast. They will also visit the Tayrona National Park to view the impact of illicit crops on the fragile environment, the potential for eco-tourism and several alternative development projects.

For additional information on the event, go to the website: http://www.cicad.oas.org/apps/Sessions.aspx?Lang=ENG&IE=CO00F.

WHAT: Forty-Second Regular Session of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD)

WHEN: November 27, 2007

TIME: 9:30 am. Registration for the press starts at 9:00

WHERE: Irotama Hotel
Convention Center
Santa Marta
Colombia

Reference: AVI-057/07