2008 highlights show CICAD's way forward

A key CICAD goal is to help OAS member states build strong core teams of qualified people able to lead their countries’ efforts in addressing the many problems caused by drugs. CICAD’s programs in 2008 focused on technical training and education for specialists in the member states who work directly on the drug problem, whether as policymakers who set overall drug control and prevention goals and policy, as health professionals, drug treatment counsellors and researchers who deal with the problems of addiction; or as law enforcement officers, judges and prosecutors who handle drug trafficking and drug money laundering cases.

In 2008, CICAD consolidated the first Central American training and certification process, with a structured curriculum for drug treatment counsellors, in an effort to assure quality care for drug-dependent persons. Over 400 people have now been trained through this program and, equally importantly, the Central American states have endorsed the concept of establishing a government-sponsored mechanism to certify those trained to guarantee to drug users and their familes that treatment programs meet a recognized standard of excellence.

Putting know-how in reach of drug counselors

CICAD and the Central American Permanent Commission for the Eradication of the production, Trafficking and Illicit Consumption of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (known by its Spanish acronym CCP) signed an agreement in December 2008 to make CICAD's drug addiction treatment training program a regional priority for Central America. The program will expand beyond El Salvador and Guatemala to include Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua in 2009. In the photo (right), CICAD Executive Secretary James Mack congratulates his peer, CCP Executive Secretary Oscar Roberto Hernández Hidalgo, for joining the political will of the five governments to collaborate in the first region-wide training and certification program for drug counselors. The program is funded by the US State Department's INL.

The South American subregion’s capacity to scientifically measure and compare the drug problem was greatly enhanced in 2008 by a coordinated study of drug and alcohol use among the general population aged 15-64 conducted simultaneously in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay using CICAD’s standardized methodology. The study, produced through a CICAD partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, showed significant differences in types of drug use prevalent in the six countries, and has paved the way for substance abuse prevention and treatment programs that are more closely tailored to the true situation in each country.

Thanks to funding from the European Commission, CICAD embarked on the first Transatlantic effort to improve drug treatment in over 45 Latin American, Caribbean and European cities, including treatment for those who have commited crimes to fund their addictions. At a meeting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in April, European mayors and their staffs joined their counterparts in the Western Hemisphere in planning joint activities and technical exchanges. Of note was European interest in our member states’ practices and experiences in treating the abuse of cocaine and crack, which is increasing significantly in the countries of the European Union, and interest by cities on both sides of the Atlantic in treatment alternatives to incarceration for drug-dependent offenders.

Many member states have been struggling to cope with large amounts of assets – cash, properties, businesses, vehicles and aircraft – seized from drug traffickers. These assets, which often remain in state hands for years as the criminal process moves slowly through the judicial system, pose serious problems of logistics and management, as well as a temptation to corruption. Countries would be much better served if they could convert these assets into cash and use it for drug prevention, treatment and law enforcement purposes. With the launch of the BIDAL (Bienes Incautados y Decomisados de America Latina) program in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, CICAD began to help countries tackle the difficult task of managing and disposing of assets seized and/or forfeited from drug traffickers and money launderers.

CICAD’s Alternative, Integral and Sustainable Development programs help small farmers reduce their dependency on income from coca and opium cultivation by strengthening their licit income generating activities. In Peru, thanks to a farm field school extension training program in cacao crop management and better post harvest practices, over one thousand participating cacao farmers have substanatially increased their yields (and income) from the production of this raw material for chocolate.

In 2008, CICAD’s Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) celebrated its 10th anniversary as the Western Hemisphere’s unique peer-based instrument that periodically reviews progress made by member states in addressing all aspects of the drug problem and proposes specific steps to improve their anti-drug capabilities and performance. Over these 10 years, member states have implemented hundreds of MEM recommendations, often with technical and financial assistance from the CICAD Executive Secretariat, including those calling for the development of national anti-drug strategies and national drug information systems, the drafting of anti-money laundering legislation, and the establishment of school-based drug prevention programs.

Rehearsing for success

Mock trials have prepared specialized legal teams to deal with complex cases of money laundering. In October, 38 judges, prosecutors, financial analysts, police investigators and defense attorneys participated in one in Montevideo, Uruguay, with the support of CICAD, the Inter-American Development Bank and the UNODC.

More information about CICAD activities are available at the news archive.