EU Statement on narcotic drugs (CND) - Vienna

Agenda Item 4: Drug Demand Reduction


1. Thank you Madame Chairperson. I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The following acceding countries: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia, and the associated countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, associate themselves with this statement.

2. We thank the Secretariat for the very useful documentation provided to us with regard to this item. Madame Chairperson, the EU considers demand reduction as an indispensable pillar in the global approach to countering the world drug problem. The discussion on this item is of particular importance this year, since at its 20th special session, the General Assembly set 2003 as a target year for new or enhanced drug demand reduction strategies and programmes, covering all areas of demand reduction, from discouraging initial use to rehabilitation and re-integration of addicts into society and thereby reducing the negative health and social consequences of drug abuse.

3. In the field of demand reduction, specific targets and means to achieve them are set in all related EU instruments, such as the EU Strategy on Drugs for 2000-2004, the concomitant EU Action Plan and its midterm evaluation which has been carried out by the European Commission. Among the principal goals of the EU Drug Strategy is to give greater priority to drug prevention and demand reduction and to reduce significantly the prevalence of drug use, as well as new recruitment to drug use, particularly among young people under 18 years of age.

4. The EU remains concerned about the high-level of drug abuse worldwide. We are alarmed by the increased exposure of young people to ATS and other synthetic drugs in many regions of the world. We are also deeply concerned with the current status of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its linkage in particular with injecting drug use. We continue to support activities, including on risk reduction, in addressing the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and other health threats linked with drug use, and the programmatic activities of the UNDCP in this area. Further cooperation is needed in order to prevent the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the regions of the world where it continues to expand the fastest.

5. We consider an action priority in the sphere of demand reduction to be the efficient exchange of information on experiences, best practices and significant research, especially with regard to drug prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation and the reduction of risks associated with drug dependence. Improving our understanding of patterns and trends in drug abuse is crucial to meeting the challenges laid out in the Political Declaration of the special session. In this respect the EU is pleased to see an increase of the proportion of States reporting that demand reduction activities were based on an assessment of the drug abuse situation and analysis of data, as stressed in the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction (from 74% in the 1st reporting period 1998-2000, to 84% in the 2nd reporting period, 2000-2002). The revision of part II of the annual reports questionnaire as well as the involvement of member states in regional expert networks have contributed to improving the global reporting.

6. The EU thinks that it is necessary to develop and implement preventive actions and strategies for all age groups, particularly children and young people. We encourage the development of early intervention programmes for children and young people at the first stage of drug use, with special attention to the recreational use of substances such as synthetic drugs and cannabis, as well as polydrug use. Furthermore, a main target is to increase the number of successfully treated drug addicts and to reduce drug-related deaths and drug-related health damage, such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, TBC etc. [We welcome the draft resolution put forward by Belgium and the Netherlands on this issue]. The EU gives high priority to the development of a wider range of services for the treatment of drug users, including the provision of treatment in prisons. Alternative measures to imprisonment for drug users should also be made available. In our efforts to ameliorate the quality of services, we need to pay special attention to the education of professionals from the health and other relevant sectors. Overall, the EU supports comprehensive treatment, rehabilitation and social re-integration activities, including those which form part of national health and social care systems. We also support the provision of relevant information to the general public.

7. In order to enhance the effectiveness of our efforts to tackle the drug abuse problem, research and pilot innovative approaches on prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and risk reduction need to be further promoted and evaluated.

8. Concluding, we would like to reaffirm the European Union's commitment to the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Demand Reduction adopted in1998.

Thank you Madame Chairperson.

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• EU Statement on narcotic drugs (CND) - Vienna (17/4/2003)