Drug abuse: Tendencies and ways to overcome it

The Committee is endowed with the right to impose restrictions, under certain conditions, on the manufacture and import of drugs.

Since a large volume of information is available at the Committee it is able to prepare reports, publish them and forward them to the Council to be sent to the parties concerned. In these reports the Committee can touch upon any issues connected with drugs and inform its readers about newly passed decisions. For example, in its report of 1989 (Vienna) the Committee called on the governments of all countries to strictly observe the
Convention's provisions, to submit statistical accounts about the available quantities of narcotics and trade in them, among other related data.

To avoid alternative versions and form a single understanding, the
Uniform Convention establishes identical definitions of special terminology related to drugs.

Drug-related Terminology as Established by the Uniform Convention:

For example, according to the Convention a "narcotic substance" is any of the substances included in List I and List II regardless of whether it is synthetic or natural. Lists I, II, III, and IV are enumerations of narcotics or drug-bearing preparations and are supplements to the
Convention in which possible changes may be made from time to time in accordance with the procedures established by the Convention.

Definitions are also given for cannabis and its plant and resin, cocaine shrub, coca leaves, opium, opium poppy and poppy straw.

Significantly, the international understanding of the word
"cultivation" pertaining to drugs covers only the cultivation of opium poppy, cocaine brush or the cannabis plant. It should be mentioned at this point that the 1988 UN Convention defines this term differently. But this will be discussed below.

The term "illegal trafficking" means the cultivation of or any action relating to the sale of narcotics in violation of the Convention's decisions. The term "importation" and "exportation" mean the physical shipment of narcotics crossing the boundaries of one country to another or from one territory to another within one and the same country. The term
"territory" means any part of a country defined as a separate unit for the purpose of applications of the system of drug importation certificates and drug exportation permits to it.

The term "manufacture" implies (with the exception of production) all the processes that pertain to obtaining narcotic substances, including refining or turning one narcotic into another.

The term "production" means the separation of opium, coca, cannabis leaves and cannabis resin from the plants, which they are obtained from.

The term "preparation" means a hard or liquid mixture containing a narcotic substance.

The term "storage stocks" is used in relation to the amount of narcotics which are available in a particular country or on its territory and meant to be used for medical or scientific purposes, for exportation or for the needs of various pharmacists, authorized traders and specialists or institutions where medical or scientific research is carried out.

Included in this term is also the notion "special storage stocks" which is used to describe the amount of narcotics available within a country or a territory of that country and put at the disposal of its government to be used for special purposes or in case of an emergency.

The Uniform Convention introduces a number of specific restrictions and bans and a special procedure for the cultivation of drug-bearing plants.
The most important restrictions are those concerning the cultivation of opium poppy, cocaine shrub or cannabis plant.

Special provisions are envisaged in the first place in relation to opium. Government-run institutions (one or several) should be set up to deal with the cultivation of opium poppy and with opium production. They should have the right to determine areas and sizes of fields, and issue licenses and permits for land plots where a certain amount of opium poppy can be grown and a certain amount of opium-produced. These government-run institutions should be endowed with the exclusive right to buy opium poppy crops from farmers and to import, export, conclude wholesale trade deals and maintain storage opium stocks (with the exception of medicinal opium and preparations from it.)

The responsibilities of persons are outlined who have permits
(licenses) to grow drug-bearing plants, to turn over crops of opium poppy only to the institution which they had received their permits from. Any departures from the established procedures are qualified as violations of the law. The Convention permits narcotics to be made only at government-run enterprises or in accordance with licenses issued to persons with necessary qualifications.

The Convention introduces uniform rules for storing narcotics to ensure that the substances are maintained in proper condition. It envisages the responsibility of member-states for taking precautionary measures to prevent the inappropriate use of narcotics or the possibility for them to become part of illegal trafficking in cases when, for example, they are kept in airliners' first aid compartments.

Narcotics can be stored only legally. Their producers are not allowed to keep them in quantity exceeding the established norms. A compulsory registration system is established under which the quantity of each prepared, acquired or used drug should be recorded. Drugs can be stored for no more than 2 years.

The signatories of the Convention are obliged to take specially stipulated measures to combat illegal drug trafficking. The Convention therefore grants the contracting parties the right to control the work of persons and enterprises engaged, on a legal basis, in the cultivation, manufacture, storage and use of narcotics and of those engaged in the drugs' exportation, importation, distribution and trade.

The participating countries, besides, have the following duties: to take steps at home towards coordinating preventive and repressive measures against illegal drug trafficking; to help each other in carrying out campaigns against illegal drug trafficking; to closely cooperate with competent international bodies in carrying out coordinated actions for the purpose of combating narcotics and also to ensure an effective international cooperation and a quick transfer of legal documents for launching prosecution.

Punishability of Drug-related crimes:

The Uniform Convention institutes the punishment for drug-related crimes and obliges member-countries to take specific actions when crimes that are recognized as punishable by the Convention are committed intentionally. Serious crimes should be punished by imprisonment or some other form of deprivation of freedom. Intentional crimes which are punishable include: the cultivation and production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, storage, offer, offer with commercial intentions, distribution, purchase, sale, delivery on any conditions, drug-pushing, dispatch, transit re-dispatch, shipping, and importation and exportation of narcotics. Each of these crimes, if committed in more than one country, must be considered as a separate crime. Intentional complicity in any of these crimes, participation in a community with the aim to commit or attempt to commit a crime, preparatory actions or financial operations related to the above cited crimes must also be recognized as punishable actions. Sentences passed by foreign courts for such crimes must be taken into account when considering recidivism.

The Convention recommends that any extradition treaty should make these crimes subject to extradition.

Yet while instituting punishment for a long list of drug-related crimes the Uniform Convention also includes a special decision on treating drug addicts. It calls on the member-states to create conditions conducive to providing them with rehabilitation and restoring their ability to work. If economic opportunities are available in the country, appropriate conditions should be created providing preventive treatment to drug addicts.

The UN Convention of 1988:

The 1988 Convention regulates questions relating to the illegal trafficking of drugs and psycho tropes. The aim of this Convention is to promote cooperation between the contracting parties so as to more effectively solve various problems involving worldwide illegal drug trafficking, curtail its size and prevent its grave consequences. The
Convention particularly emphasizes the danger of the proliferation of illegal drug trafficking and the involvement of children in it. It points to the need to ensure control of easily accessible substances and those, which are used to make narcotics illegally.

Special attention is paid to the need to improve international cooperation to block illegal drug trafficking at sea. The Convention envisages steps to prevent a certain number of offenses.

The contracting parties are expected to adopt necessary legislative and organizational steps. The following provisions seem to be the most interesting.

The Notion of Illegal Drug Trafficking:

Firstly, there is a provision, bearing the form of a recommendation, for member states that national legislation should recognize certain premeditated actions included by the Convention into the notion of "illegal trafficking" as common crimes. Actions that violate the 1961 Convention
(with amendments) include: production, manufacture, preparation, offer for sale, distribution, sale, delivery on any terms, middleman services, shipping, transit shipping, transportation, and importation or exportation of any narcotic. Other actions which should be recognized as crimes are the cultivation of specially indicated narcotic-bearing plants in order to turn out drugs; storing or purchasing any narcotic for illegal trafficking; making, transporting or distributing equipment, materials or substances for the purpose of illegal cultivation, production or manufacture of narcotics; organization, guidance or financing of any offenses listed above; conversion or transfer of property obtained from the above mentioned offenses in order to conceal or cover up an illegal source of property or in order to help a person who is taking part in committing the listed offenses to evade responsibility for his actions; concealment or secrecy of the true nature of the source, whereabouts, arrangement method, transfer of the rights in relation to property or its belonging if it is known that this property is gained as a result of the listed offenses; possession of equipment or materials needed to illegally cultivate, produce or make any narcotic; public encouragement or incitement of other persons by any means to commit any of the above-mentioned offenses; participation or involvement in a criminal collusion in order to commit the mentioned offenses, as well as accomplice, incitement, assistance or advice during their commission; and intentional storage, acquisition or cultivation of any narcotic for personal use in defiance of the provisions of the 1961 Convention (with amendments).

Secondly, there is a provision concerning matters of responsibility and punishment of people convicted of dangerous drug-related crimes. This provision recommends such sanctions as imprisonment or the deprivation of freedom, as well as additional measures in the form of rehabilitation, restoration of the ability to work, or social reintegration with subsequent supervision.

Controlled Deliveries:

Thirdly, there is a provision about the use of controlled deliveries at the international level based on mutual accords. Controlled delivery is a method under which exportation, transportation or importation of illegal or suspicious batches of drugs are allowed on the territory of one or several countries with the knowledge and under the supervision of competent agencies in order to identify the participants in these offenses.

Most norms covered by international conventions are part of the laws of the Russian Federation, and more of these norms may be registered in the future provided there are suitable conditions.

Measures to Prevent Drug Money Laundering:

There are two documents, which have been mentioned earlier that are very important in controlling drug abuse because they affect the "sore points" of narco-business. Both of these documents need to be applied in the Russian Federation. One, from 12th December 1988, is a statement by the
Committee on Banking Rules and Banking Supervision. Its aim is to prevent the criminal use of the banking system for laundering money gained from the trade in drugs. The other is the decision by the heads of state and government of the 7 leading industrial countries and by the European
Commission Chairman. Under this decision taken at the 15th Economic Summit in Paris in July 1989, a Special Operations Group on financial issues was set up.

It must also be noted that the past few years have seen the convocation of numerous official and unofficial conferences, symposia and meetings of experts specializing in combating drug abuse, including one held in 1996 in
Baku. They all worked out and recommended for implementation various measures to control narcotics.

Par. 2. Tendencies in the World Community's Reaction to Drug Abuse.

The world community counteracts the negative tendencies of drug abuse.
This can be clearly seen in the materials of the world fora and in the international legal acts.

The Overriding Tendency of Combating Drug Abuse:

The overriding tendency is the expanding scale, and improvement of activities, as well as of the international legal regulations combating drug abuse. The core of this tendency is expressed in the following trajectory from the study of drug abuse, and exerting influence by the world community through establishing international control over legitimate distribution and consumption of drugs, to the adoption and implementation of the increasingly diversified, detailed, rationalized and tough measures combating illegal drug trafficking and criminal drug money laundering.
These measures are being worked out by international agencies and organizations and are aimed at fully blocking the spread of narcotics.

This overall tendency can be seen in several of its more concrete manifestations, such as bringing the problem of narcotics to the forefront; expanding the sphere of the international legal regulation by amending existing measures and approving new international legal norms; making actions against drug abuse more purposeful by revealing its most vulnerable spots and controlling them by using new, more perfected international legal norms; ensuring a more universal, unified and standardized understanding of international legal terms regulating narcotics and; adopting international legal norms that pave the way for a real opportunity to combat narcotics; bringing international and national legal acts in line concerning actions against narcotics in the process of nations joining international legal acts and ratifying them; increasing the number of countries taking part in international conferences on actions against narcotics and the number of countries joining international legal acts and setting up and expanding the functions of specialized international agencies that work to combat narcotics.

Bringing to the Foreground Problems of Combating Drug Abuse:

Nearly 80 years since the convocation of the Shanghai Opium Commission in 1909, the first official body on the international scene that had drawn attention to the problems of narcotics, its regulation and gradual restriction, public attention to the problem has been steadily growing in proportion to the rise in the degree of public danger and the spread of narcotics. This is manifested by the increasing number of conferences, meetings, and symposia that concentrate on working out and adopting various international legal acts regulating measures to combat narcotics along with producing recommendations aimed at improving these types of measures and their application.

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