Farewell Mr Yans

Farewell Mr Yans

At its recent session, the International Narcotic Control Board elected a new bureau and new President. This signals a farewell to Mr Raymond Yans, who served as the INCB’s last President. While the organisation is generally viewed as a highly conservative one, strongly opposed to reform and apparently viewing the international drug control conventions as eternal Truths carved in stone, the Presidency of Raymond Yans was a particularly controversial one. His interpersonal manner was often considerably less than diplomatic, referring to the elected government of Uruguay as 'pirates'. He was consistent in his resistance to the place of human rights in drug control, and openly hostile to those elements of civil society whose views he did not share. Amongst those who believe that some level of reform is necessary if the drug control system is to engage the realities of drug consumption in the globalised world of the twenty-first century, it is fair to say that Mr Yans will probably not be missed.

His successor is Mr Lochan Naidoo, a Family Practitioner from Durban, South Africa, who is something of an unknown quantity for civil society. On the positive side, Mr Naidoo immediately took the opportunity to state his passionate commitment to ensuring that adequate access to essential medicines is achieved. On the negative, he is rumoured to share many of Raymond Yans’ attitudes and beliefs. At IDPC, we hope that it will be possible to achieve a more productive and mutually respectful relationship with the new President, and welcome him to his post at the critical juncture for international drug policy.

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