By TIOL News Service

VIENNA, MARCH 15, 2014: THE world community must do more, and do better, to tackle the global drug problem, senior United Nations officials stressed in Vienna, kicking off a two-day review of efforts to address a scourge that poses a serious threat to human life and undermines development.

"The cultivation, manufacture, trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs continue to pose a major threat to the health of people everywhere; and to the stability and sustainable development of a number of countries and entire regions," Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said at the opening of the review.

"It is my hope that this high-level debate will help you to find common ground and come up with a powerful message that will enable us to strengthen our cooperation, and to address the world drug problem in a balanced, humane and effective way, based on the international conventions."

The High-Level Review of the implementation of Political Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by the Commission in 2009 to counter the world drug problem brings together over 1,500 representatives of Member States, civil society organisations and the media.

The Plan of Action has three focuses: demand reduction, supply reduction, and countering money-laundering and promoting judicial cooperation to enhance international cooperation.

Mr. Fedotov noted that there have been successes in implementing the plan: the global cocaine market has shrunk; the delivery of treatment has improved; and international cooperation has been strengthened.

"And yet there have been serious setbacks," he added. Among these is the increase in opium poppy cultivation, which reached record levels in Afghanistan last year; an expanding illicit market for synthetic stimulants; and an "alarming" increase in new psychoactive substances.

"We have learned that sustainable success requires a balanced, cooperative, comprehensive and integrated approach, addressing both supply and demand," the Executive Director said. A balanced approach relies on evidence-based responses, with an emphasis on public health, he added.

Also, any public health response should also consider alternatives to penalization and incarceration of people with drug use disorders, as well as measures focusing on prevention, treatment, and social rehabilitation and integration, he maintained.

In his remarks to the opening, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said the response of the UN family to the drug problem is firmly rooted in the fundamental principles of the three international drug control conventions, namely the protection of the health and welfare of humankind as well as the promotion and protection of human rights through the rule of law.