The Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) is an instrument for measuring anti-drug activities carried out by the member states of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD, by its Spanish language acronym). This measurement is carried out through the preparation of reports evaluating the progress of drug control.
The reports produced within the MEM process are written by government experts appointed by the OAS member states. Each country is entitled to one main expert and alternate experts, with the exception that each country has only one voice and that the experts do not participate in the evaluation of their own country. In this way, the Governmental Expert Group (GEG) is composed of a multidisciplinary group that guarantees objectivity and the multilateral component of the MEM.
Since its establishment in 1998, the MEM has contributed to the OAS member states' improvements of a wide array of national drug polices and strategies. These include:
- Ratifying international conventions and bilateral agreements.
- Conducting studies/surveys on drug use, at a national, university, and school level.
- Implementing and strengthening of demand reduction programs.
- Enactment of laws and control regulations on chemical substances and pharmaceutical products.
- Establishing intelligence information exchange mechanisms for the control of drug trafficking.
In its eighth round, the MEM operational process was reviewed to carry out annual thematic evaluations, in accordance with the Hemispheric Plan of Action 2021-2025, during its first three years of execution, concluding with a comprehensive evaluation in its final year. Moreover, at the end of each thematic evaluation, a hemispheric brief will be prepared on regional trends derived from the national reports.