national strategy and tactics, direct and coordinate all the elements of
the struggle against narcotics, and set up subordinate regional committees
and commissions. As need be, it should be able to amend the state policy in
regard to drugs. This agency surely must include psychiatrists specializing
in the treatment of addicts, lawyers, psychologists, sociologists,
teachers, pharmacists, journalists and other specialists and experts, as
well as representatives from the ministries of public health, social
welfare, education, agriculture, foreign economic ties, industry and trade,
transport, telecommunications, foreign affairs, the interior, justice,
finance, national security (as well as of the foreign intelligence
service), air, maritime, and inland water transport, of the State Bank,
Intourist, customs service, and the Prosecutor's Office.
Material support. Financing should be provided for the National Program
to Counteract Drug Abuse in general and for its specific aspects. The
financing structure may include specialized funds.
Medical support. A mechanism of medical interaction on the issues of
drugs must involve all the agencies and departments concerned and their
separate branches.
Support from the system of education. It is necessary to train an
appropriate number of anti-drug specialists with due regard to the
experience gained by their foreign counterparts.
Accountability. Regulated accountability and control of all the
agencies and departments participating in the campaign against narcotics
should be established. The participants will be furnished with special sets
of documents and evaluation criteria. They will bear personal
responsibility for the final results.
The second category of mandatory measures defines the direction of the
effort against narcotics, sets out the target goals and names the
participants. At a minimum, the main direction should be of a simultaneous
offensive on the production, trade and consumption of drugs.
In the field of legislative regulation, a set of laws on combating
narcotics should encompass a) perfection of the effective legal acts on
drugs, b) the legally defined rules of identification, check-up and
voluntary/compulsory treatment of drug addicts, c) the rules of drug
identification, d) legislative support of international cooperation
including the obligations that arise from the international treaties and
agreements, e) elaboration of legal norms to fight drug-related money-
laundering, f) and bringing national legislation in line with the
international laws.
In the field of medicine: the identification, medical treatment and
social rehabilitation of drug addicts presupposes improving the methods of
early diagnosis and treatment of addiction, the development of prophylactic
measures, a system of registering and monitoring drug abusers, the
gathering and analysis of information and information exchange between
relevant departments.
In the sphere of combating drug-related crimes, it is essential to
suppress the illegal cultivation of plants containing narcotic substances,
improve control over the transportation of narcotics across borders, and
curb their clandestine manufacture. It is also necessary to control the
manufacturing, storage and trade in the chemicals and equipment, which may
be used in the illegal production of drugs. The stamping-out of such crimes
necessitates stringent regulatory mechanisms in the production,
transportation and use of narcotic substances for medical and research
purposes, as required by the international conventions, advancement of
investigative methods, improvement in the customs service, administrative
and other forms of curtailing crimes linked to drugs and limiting the
illegal demand for them. The circle of involved participants in actions
against narcotics, especially in the field of prophylactics and halting the
spread of drug abuse should be enlarged through unconventional forms and
methods of work, such as invigorating the efforts of religious and
charitable organizations, private companies, psychological aid centers,
army units, and so on.
Understandably, the suggested list of efforts is not exhaustive.
Nonetheless, it puts the emphasis on the main directions and can be viewed
as a version of a multifaceted approach toward organizing a program of
action combating drug abuse.
The Experience of Countries:
The experience of countries that have developed national programs against
drug abuse can be very instrumental in drawing up a national anti-narcotics
program.
In 1982, the United States adopted a program against drug trafficking
and organized crime. Its implementation presumed mapping out a special
presidential policy and the participation of the governors of all the
states.
The USA:
The then US President Ronald Reagan sanctioned the allocation of an
additional USD 130 million to the Department of Justice budget for the
implementation of that program. These funds were distributed to the federal
law-enforcement agencies, the judiciary, penitentiaries and the police. The
administration envisioned an increase in the number of prosecutors, FBI
agents, and the personnel of anti-drug departments, customs services, the
coast guards, Internal Revenue Service, Immigration Naturalization Service,
and other departments.
More than a half of the allocation was set aside as salary and bonuses
for special service agents. The rest was spent on modernizing police
equipment, the renovation of the state and federal prisons, and enhancement
of the FBI technical capabilities in neutralizing criminals who can afford
the most up-to-date listening devices and surveillance equipment.
The program also made provisions for creating special regional task
force, and creating programs for participation in actions against drug
abuse by the state, as well as for more room in federal jails. Coordination
committees responsible to the Secretary of Justice were established in all
of the 94 Federal judicial districts. The committees were obliged to make
up plans for fighting grave crimes at the county, state and national
levels.
It was for the first time that a program envisioned deployment of the
armed forces against the spread of drugs. Their task was to detect and
detain traffickers, especially at the US-Mexican border and in the
Caribbean.
A variety of drug prevention programs were developed at the regional
level, such as the program of aid to potential abusers and their victims in
the District of Columbia or the program against the abuse of drugs and
alcohol by adolescents in Maryland. Many of them, however, remained
ineffective not because they lacked professionalism, but more often because
the moves lacked coordination. Not rare was the shortage of financing,
technical and personnel support.
In 1989, the US adopted the national strategy against drugs, which is
executed by more than thirty federal departments, including the CIA.
American experts believe that the US share of the worldwide consumption of
drugs is more than a fifty per cent. They also consider drug trafficking as
a global threat which cannot be controlled by the efforts of a single
country. There must be international cooperation to settle this bedeviling
problem.
Since the bulk of drugs originate outside the US, the Administration
put an emphasis on attacking drug dealers on their home territory and on
stepping up counteraction to the proliferation and sale of drugs inside the
country. The strategy evidently has flaws, as the situation shows no signs
of dramatic improvement.
Canada:
On May 25th, 1987, the Canadian government officially introduced a
national strategy against drug abuse. The strategy had resulted from long
consultations with provincial governments, different private organizations
and individual specialists. The goal of the strategy was to shape a unified
course of actions against the abuse of drugs in Canada.
The general supervision of its implementation was vested in the
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Other participants were the Royal
Mounted Police of Canada, the Directorate of the Penitentiaries, the
Ministry of Justice, the Customs Department and the Excise Tax Service, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Training and Youth.
The main goal was to work out a balanced line of action that would meet
the needs of all Canadians, bring down the impact of alcohol and other
stimulants on individuals, families and entire communities. The strategy
comprised six directions of action: 1)education and prevention, 2)control
over law abidance, 3) medical treatment and rehabilitation, 4) gathering of
information and research, 5) international cooperation 6) and national
policy. Over two-thirds of the resources were directed into the
educational, preventive and treatment programs to curtail demand on the
banned substances.
The Royal Mounted Police had the assignment to help develop and
implement five initiatives on restraining the supply of and the demand for
drugs, namely 1) a program to curb the black marketing of drugs, 2) the
coordination of coastal guard patrol, 3) the gathering and processing of
data on drugs, 4) technical assistance to foreign countries and 5) an
educational program.
Canadian experts note that it is hard to measure the effects of this
program yet, but all the above measures contribute to saving lives and
making the nation healthier.
The United Kingdom:
The British government is acting upon a multifaceted anti-narcotic
strategy that it adopted in 1994. There are five strategic priority aspects
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