International cartels expand influence, INCB reports.

• Position: UN International Narcotics Control Board report

The global drug menace has penetrated the spheres of international politics and world economics, as the influence of powerful drug cartels continues to rise, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has reported.

"Today, countries that are not suffering from the harmful consequences of drug abuse are the exception rather than the rule", the 60-page INCB report for 1993 stated. The 13-member Board endeavours to limit the cultivation, production, manufacture and use of drugs to amounts required for medical and scientific purposes only, and to prevent illicit drug production and use, in accordance with international drug control conventions. Its annual reports aim to keep Governments aware of potentially dangerous situations and weaknesses in national controls.

In 1993, increased internationalization of and cooperation between drug cartels remained a strong trend. Trafficking organizations were bartering different drugs and using each other's routes and resources to avoid international control efforts and maximize profits, the report stated. Violence had escalated, and traffickers had become more involved in illegal arms sales.

Heroin and cocaine abuse continued, along with a worldwide increase in the use of synthetic stimulants. The report cited substantial seizures of fenetylline tablets in the Middle East, smuggling of amphetimine and pemoline into West Africa, amphetamine abuse in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, and growing abuse of potent "designer drugs" in Western Europe, North America and Asia.

Education programmes, rehabilitation of drug abusers and community empowerment were urged as measures to reduce demand. INCB also drew attention to corruption in national drug control systems and called on countries to combat money-laundering.

Since reducing drug availability was a major concern, the Board strongly opposed legalizing drug use, the report stated. All States were called on to become parties to international conventions on narcotic drugs: the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, as amended by the 1972 Protocol: the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances; and the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

Americas

North American States--Mexico, the United States and Canada- had ratified the three Conventions and were pursuing vigorous anti-drug policies, the report stated.

In the United States, policy had shifted from foreign intervention to domestic treatment...