INCB Annual Report launched in Bangkok

On 4 March 2014, the INCB Annual Report 2013 was launched in Bangkok at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. A representative from the IDPC secretariat attended and noted the large number of officers from Thailand’s Office of the Narcotics Control Board present. The Deputy Secretary General, Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB - Thailand’s drug control agency) presented, saying that last year it seized a very high volume of amphetamine-type stimulants: around 124,000,000 pills. She said that there are around 1.2 million people who use drugs in Thailand, and said that the Government is responding to drug use according to the principle that “drug users are patients and not criminals”. On the control of precursor chemicals, a key focus of discussion at the launch and in the INCB Report, the ONCB referred to the strict controls that the Thai government is now imposing on pseudoephedrine (a key precursor chemical to the manufacture of methamphetamine). She stated that Thailand imposes controls on more substances than those mentioned in the international conventions. The UNODC (Mr. Jeremy Douglas – Regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific) spoke generally about trends in drug trafficking, production and distribution. Most questions from journalists were about these trends.

The INCB member from Thailand (Dr. Viroj Sumyai) said that drug control policies have to be revised and the first chapter of the INCB report about the economic consequences of drug abuse is aimed at raising awareness amongst member states regarding their budget spending on drug policy. He said that "demand reduction is a wise choice for harm reduction". Dr. Viroj also spoke about adequate access to drugs for pain relief. He said that most countries in the world neglect this problem, instead focussing on strict controls on drugs in accordance with the 1961 drug control treaty. Only 5 countries/regions in the world (US, Canada, Western EU, Australia and New Zealand) consume 90% of the world’s supply of opioid medicines, leaving only 10% supply for the rest of the world. He said that attention must be paid to the obstacles to access of pain relief medication in the drug control system, noting that in Asia, only Japan and South Korea have adequate access to pain treatment. He said some governments believe that less drugs is good, thereby making access to pain relief medication more difficult—an issue which the INCB will seek to raise for discussion at the upcoming United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, to be held in Vienna, Austria on 13-21 March 2014.