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CICAD Inaugurates 50th Session in Buenos Aires

The Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the Organization of American States (OAS) today inaugurated in Buenos Aires its fiftieth session, a gathering that marks the celebration of the Commission’s 25th anniversary and in which representatives from more than 20 Member States will debate the global problem of drugs and its future challenges.

The regular session will seek to address issues related to demand reduction, money laundering, chemical substances and pharmaceutical products control, maritime drug trafficking, and the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism, among other subjects.

The OAS Secretary for Multidimensional Security, Adam Blackwell, recalled that “some years ago, Secretary General José Miguel Insulza suggested the idea of applying part of the seized assets from drug traffickers to a fund for financing programs and projects that, while seeking to palliate the catastrophic consequences of illegal drug abuse and trafficking, contribute to increase security in the Americas.”

“My hope is that the countries, as they progress in the seizure of those assets, will be in a position to make this fund a reality,” Ambassador Blackwell added.

The new CICAD Executive Secretary, Paul Simons, said that “professional excellence, openness and transparency, flexibility and adaptability, the fulfillment of the Commission’s mandates, mutual respect and creativity in resource mobilization” will be the pillars on which he will build his agenda.

During the session’s inauguration, the Argentine Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Alberto D’Alotto, said that “Argentina considers drug addiction not as a crime but as a sickness, and the State must pay attention to people suffering from it. Furthermore, it is necessary to focus demand reduction through school programs at all levels of education.”

The CICAD—which is meeting in the San Martín Palace in Buenos Aires—approved by acclamation the appointment of José Ramón Granero of Argentina as Commission Chair for the 2011-2012 term.

Deputy Minister D’Alotto added that “only through cooperation among our countries will we be able to face the hemispheric drug problem. We need to improve the exchange of information and review the existing regional and bilateral agreements, and those motions must be made through CICAD.”

The outgoing CICAD Chair, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, said that “it is necessary to examine the status of the global drug problem as well as global policies on drugs, 50 years after the first United Nations convention to face the problem.”

The CICAD will end its session at noon on Friday, November 4. There will be a press conference that day at 14:00 local time (17:00 GMT) in the San Martín Palace.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-938/11