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Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the OAS to Discuss Regional Drug Trade

The region’s leading drug control officials will meet in San José, Costa Rica, from November 28 to 30 to examine the impact of the illicit drug trade in the region and how to respond more efficiently and effectively to its threats, at the 52nd Regular Session of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the Organization of American States (OAS).

In the inaugural session, Laura Chinchilla Miranda, the President of Costa Rica, will offer opening remarks, as Costa Rica will assume the presidency of CICAD for the period 2012-2013.

During the meeting, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza will report to the Commissioners on the ongoing development of the report on the drug problem in the Americas, which was mandated by the heads of state at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena in April 2012.

The Commission will review a new set of evaluation procedures, standards and criteria for the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM), the OAS's instrument for assessing the efforts of Member States in dealing comprehensively with the global drug problem. The new instrument recasts the process within the framework of the Hemispheric Drug Strategy, approved by the OAS General Assembly in June 2010, and its Plan of Action, 2011-2015, adopted a year later.

The Commission will also take a hard look at the increasing toll of organized crime on public security, the rule of law, the economy and civil society, especially in Central America and Mexico, as well as the latest trends in the production and trafficking of illicit drugs, money laundering, and corruption.

To offset the drug trade’s damage, the Commission will examine how a social integration policy can create channels for former drug users to rejoin their communities as productive members; how drug treatment courts can be adapted to deal with drug dependent offenders as an alternative for incarceration, and how the public health system can address the new priorities introduced by rising substance use.

Part of the three-day meeting will focus on CICAD’s future operations, as well as reports from Executive Secretary Paul Simons and CICAD’s expert groups.

CICAD is the Western Hemisphere's policy forum for dealing with the drug problem. The Hemispheric Drug Strategy, approved in May 2010, expresses the firm commitment of Member States to deal with the consequences of the drug trade, which pose a growing threat to health, economic development, social cohesion, and the rule of law.


WHAT: 52nd Regular Session of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD)

WHEN: November 28-30,2012

WHERE: Hotel La Condesa, San José, Costa Rica

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