This Program of Action is based on the following principles, which also provide action for its overall goals and objectives:

1. The principal goal of socioeconomic development is to improve standards of living and quality of life. Policies adopted to reduce the demand for drugs, prevent drug abuse, and combat unlawful trafficking in drugs must, in the final analysis, also serve this main purpose;
2. Socioeconomic development cannot flourish in an environment lacking in conditions conducive to personal dignity, democracy, and state security;
3. The prevention of drug abuse and the campaign against trafficking in drugs are interrelated with socioeconomic development, and each can influence the other. Adoption of this Program of Action reflects recognition by the inter- American community of the importance of that interrelationship;
4. Policies to reduce the demand for drugs, prevent drug abuse, and combat unlawful trafficking in drugs must be included in the socioeconomic development policies of the member states. They must also be consistent with human rights, the basic claims to nationally and internationally recognized individual liberties and rights, respect for the traditions and customs of national and regional groups, and environmental protection;
5. Recommendations made under this Program of Action take into account the imperative need for respect for the sovereignty of nations in determining their policies to reduce the demand for drugs, prevent drug abuse, and combat drug trafficking, for the diversity of domestic conditions obtaining in the countries of the Americas, and for the specific regional features existing in each country;
6. Drug trafficking constitutes a global phenomenon that can threaten both the sovereignty of states and the integrity and identity of people; and
7. International cooperation, whether bilateral or multilateral, is becoming increasingly vital to the effectiveness of efforts to reduce the demand for drugs, prevent drug abuse, and combat unlawful trafficking in drugs. It is of mutual interest to the countries that produce, use, or serve as transit points for drugs that such cooperation should develop free of pressures of any kind.

In keeping with the abovecited principles, the main objectives of the Program are to increase and strengthen the capacity of the member states to reduce the demand for drugs, prevent drug abuse, and effectively combat unlawful production of and trafficking in drugs. The Program also seeks to elicit an appropriate inter-American response through an increase in regional activities in the fields of research, exchange of information, training of specialized personnel, and the furnishing of mutual assistance.

Chapter I

The Inter-American Specialized Conference on Traffic in Narcotic Drugs recommends to the OAS member states the following actions to prevent the improper demand for and abuse of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances:

1. Assignment of top priority to measures to reduce the improper demand for, and abuse of, narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances;
2. Carrying out of epidemiological and other relevant studies to identify the causes and prevalence of drug abuse in the various age brackets and social strata of the national populations, taking into account the regional peculiarities of each country;
3. Promotion of studies to increase knowledge of the most appropriate ways of making society aware of the causes and effects of drug abuse, taking into account the regional peculiarities of each country;
4. Promotion of programs for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts. Such programs should involve the participation of the Inter-American Specialized Organizations, particularly the Pan American Health Organization;
5. Promotion of primary prevention campaigns through education, social welfare, and health departments and other relevant agencies, with a view to enlisting maximum community participation;
6. Establishment of mechanisms in the appropriate governmental agencies for supervising and controlling the production, marketing, and use of legal drugs within the context of national policies;
7. Promotion of studies on the medical prescription of drugs that act on the central nervous system and the social repercussions of self-medication of such drugs; and
8. Carrying out of studies on the harmful effects on the use of inhalants and on mechanisms for controlling their sales, taking into account the necessary social solutions to the problem.

Chapter II

The Conference also recommends to the OAS member states the following actions to combat the unlawful production and supply of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances:

1. The development and expansion of mechanisms for an exchange of information on the structures of illegal marketing and any other aspects of unlawful trafficking in drugs among affected nations;
2. The study-and possible approval-of draft legislation designed:
   
   i. to strengthen the ability of appropriate agencies to investigate and prosecute unlawful drug trafficking, including their ability to trace the origin of monies deposited in or transferred among financial and other business institutions by drug traffickers;
   ii. to forfeit assets derived from or used to facilitate drug trafficking, irrespective of where such trafficking occurred; and
   iii. to treat as a punishable offense the acquisition, possession, use, or so-called laundering of assets that are known to be directly or indirectly the proceeds of unlawful drug trafficking, irrespective of where such trafficking occurred, and to enable such assets to be forfeited.
   
3. The establishment of rigid controls on the manufacture, importation, exportation, transport and marketing of solvents, precursors, and chemical products essential to the preparation of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances;
4. The establishment of judicial, police, and customs cooperation mechanisms among member states to obtain more effective action in this field;
5. The substitution, under appropriate conditions, of illegal crops from which narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances may be extracted, when required by the socio-economic conditions prevailing in the areas of cultivation;
6. The eradication, by biologically and environmentally sound methods, of illegal crops-as defined by each state-from which narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances may be extracted;
7. Research in order to develop biological methods for the eradication of illegal crops;
8. The drafting and implementation of effective controls for the issuance of permits, classification, marketing, importation, and exportation of such legal production as takes place within the quantitative limits determined each year by the International Narcotics Control Board; and
9. Research on new legal uses for plants from which narcotic and psychotropic substances may be derived, provided those substances are subject to government control.

Chapter III

The Conference further recommends to the member states of the OAS the following general measures to combat the illicit use and production of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and traffic therein:

1. Establishment of central agencies at the national level charged with formulating the respective national plans, policies, and programs regarding narcotic drugs and also with exercising general coordination, supervision, control, and monitoring of activities related to drug abuse and unlawful trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances;
2. Encouragement of contacts between the above mentioned central agencies and public and private national, regional, and municipal organizations that are engaged in the prevention of drug abuse and the treatment of drug addicts;
3. Establishment of a national fund for the prevention of drug abuse and the campaign against unlawful drug trafficking. Such a fund could be made up from the following sources, among others:
   
   i. voluntary public and private contributions;
   ii. specific government budgetary allocations; and
   iii. funds and assets linked to unlawful drug trafficking that have been seized by the competent national authorities.
   
4. Encouragement of efforts to facilitate implementation of the recommendations and suggestions of the First Seminar on the Illicit Traffic for Law Enforcement Officers of the Anglophone Caribbean, held in Nassau, The Bahamas, on March 22-31, 1983, with particular reference to measures which could reduce the vulnerability of the Caribbean subregion to illicit sea and air transit traffic.

Chapter IV

To help the member states implement the actions and institute the measures set forth in Chapters I, II and III through regional cooperation, the Conference recommends:

1. To the General-Assembly of the OAS
   
   a. That it establish an Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), composed of representatives of member states. That Commission would be responsible for developing, coordinating, evaluating and monitoring the measures prescribed in this Program of Action and for submitting proposals to increase the effectiveness of prevention of drug abuse and of the campaign against trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in the region, and
   
   b. That it consider the adoption of financing mechanisms including the possible establishment of a regional fund-to promote within the region activities and programs aimed at preventing drug abuse and combatting unlawful drug trafficking, with special attention to assistance that might be made available by the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control, based on the study to be carried out by the General Secretariat of the Organization.
   
2. To the Inter-American Juridical Committee
   That it conduct juridical research to help the member states explore the advisability of:
   
   a. Adopting specific bilateral or multilateral instruments on particular aspects of drug abuse and unlawful trafficking in drugs, including mechanisms for extradition and for cooperation among judicial, police and customs authorities of the member states, leading to more effective action against all drug traffickers;
   
   b. Seeking to harmonize national laws on trafficking;
   
   c. Coordinating at the national level judicial, police, and customs procedures with respect to unlawful trafficking; and
   
   d. Promoting regional cooperation in the judicial, police, and customs areas with respect to unlawful trafficking.
   
3. To the General Secretariat of the OAS
   
   a. That it establish a data bank on drug abuse and unlawful trafficking in drugs at the headquarters of the Organization. Such a bank would be at the disposal of all the member states and would be compatible with similar systems already in existence;
   
   b. That it set up inter-American training centers for basic and professional training in the areas of education, treatment and rehabilitation, police action, and control, in order to prevent drug abuse and combat unlawful drug trafficking in the member states, taking advantage of existing national and subregional structures;
   
   c. That it establish a documentation center on drugs, at the headquarters of the Organization, to promote coordinated inter-American efforts in this area;
   
   d. That it increase coordination and cooperation between the OAS and the appropriate United Nations agencies, the South American Accord on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (ASEP), the Caribbean Community, and other subregional entities, to render their activities compatible and complementary;
   
   e. That it conduct studies necessary to prepare the draft Statute and Regulations of CICAD, which should be presented as soon as possible to the Permanent Council for study and possible transmittal to the General Assembly;
   
   f. That it prepare an annual report on the problem of drug abuse and unlawful trafficking in drugs in the region, to be submitted to the member states through CICAD; and
   
   g. That it submit to the sixteenth regular session of the General Assembly a study of financing mechanisms-including the possible setting up of a regional fund-to promote activities and programs within the region to prevent abuse of and combat unlawful traffic in drugs, with special attention to assistance that might be made available by the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control.
   
4. To the Inter-American Specialized Organizations:
   
   That they cooperate in the implementation of this Program of Action, with special importance being assigned to any assistance that might be provided to this end by the Inter-American Indian Institute, the Inter-American Children's Institute, the Inter-American Commission of Women, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, and the Pan American Health Organization.