CND Day 1 - Plenary statement of the Director of the National Drug Control Policy of the USA

The Obama Administration shows a commitment to the equality, advancement and achievement of women.

Drugs have a terrible impact on our society and lead individuals to do terrible things. Drugs are a huge threat to society. There is therefore a need for research and best practices.

The US drug strategy is currently based on reducing drug consumption. The key themes of this strategy are:
- Community based prevention: cost-effective way to protect communities. There has recently been an increase in budget regarding prevention activities: 14% of the budget is currently spent on prevention.
- Substance use disorders must be included in healthcare systems to interrupt drug use patterns before they get unmanageable.
- High quality of treatment must be provided to everyone, and provide reliable pathways to sustain recovery after treatment.
- Law enforcement: criminal justice system must help to reduce drug use and consequences. Drug courts have produced innovative results.
- International partnerships: drug consumption in US has produced hard consequences for neighbouring countries. International cooperation must omplement our efforts to dismantle drug cartels.
- Protect society from drug consumption through prevention is primordial = draft resolution to CND.
- Prevent diversion of drugs for aims others than medical and scientific purposes. The US proposed a resolution on that topic. It proposes that an item is presented at the CND 2011 on this issue as well. Exchange information on this issue is vital.
- Importance to work with the CND and UNODC. Progress is only possible if there is international cooperation on drug problems.