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The Inter-American Observatory on Drugs was created by the Commission in May 2000 as an umbrella for and production catalyst of drug-related statistics, information and research in the hemisphere.

 

The Inter-American Observatory covers both statistical and non-statistical information related to the drug problem, and attempts to integrate the demand side with supply side statistics and documentation.  It gives high priority to the use of new information technologies, and is geared to developing or enhancing national drug information systems (national “observatories” on drugs) to support the work of the National Drug Commissions and component Ministries.  The Inter-American Observatory cooperates with CICAD’s program to strengthen national drug commissions in the member states, financed by the Government of Spain.  The Inter-American Observatory has as a key goal the objective of harmonizing data collection methodologies, including such programs as CICDAT, SIDUC, and the MEM.

 

 

Statistics in 2001

 

In the statistics area, the Observatory’s goal is to improve the collection and analysis of drug-related data in the member states, promote the use of standardized data systems, and provide for scientific and technical training and the exchange of experiences among statisticians and researchers working on the drug problem.  The Observatory provides technical, material and financial support for the development and strengthening of national drug statistics and information systems, including customized forms, questionnaires and software developed by CICAD for the systematic gathering, analysis and reporting of drug-related statistics: CICDAT, for reporting statistics on the supply and control of illicit drugs, and SIDUC, the Inter-American Uniform Drug Use Data System, for surveys on drug use.

 

In 2001, in order to help member states improve their capacity to collect and analyze drug-related statistical information and to address the needs of the MEM, the Observatory carried out the following activities:                

• Published the ninth annual Statistical Summary on Drugs using figures for the year 2000 provided by the member states.
  

• Assigned user names and passwords to the National Drug Commissions to allow them access to the CICDAT on-line/off-line software CICDAT.  The new INTERNET-based software, agreed on at a technical standardization meeting of twenty-five member states in Mexico City in November 2000, is now being used by some countries, and in its initial phase, is proving a more efficient means of collecting and reporting data on drug-related arrests, crop eradication, destruction of drug laboratories, seizures of drugs and chemicals and other law enforcement data.
  

• Completely revised the methodology for conducting surveys under the Inter-American Uniform Drug Use Data System (SIDUC), produced new questionnaires and a Procedures Manual for national SIDUC coordinators.
  

• Organized a general meeting of national SIDUC coordinators (Dominican Republic, February 2001), at which the new SIDUC methodology was considered and approved for use by all member states, if they so wish.
  

• The reports from the first round of the MEM recommended to most member states that they endeavor to estimate the prevalence of drug use in their countries; as a result, the Inter-American Observatory has begun a program to help countries conduct periodic surveys of drug use among secondary school students.  In the second half of 2001, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela conducted surveys, and other countries will do so in the first half of 2002.  The Observatory prepared a series of instructional manuals for the various types of personnel participating in these surveys (supervisors, field staff, coordinators and data entry clerks), selected probability samples, and provided technical and financial assistance for the surveys themselves.

• Signed an agreement with the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC), to assist, along with UNDCP, in planning and executing the Drug Abuse Epidemiological and Surveillance System Project, financed by the European Union and executed by CAREC.  This project supports the fifteen CARIFORUM member states in improving their information on drug use using the SIDUC methodology. The project, set to last for two years, began in May 2001. CICAD is providing its SIDUC methodology as the basis for the project, and is conducting the training component of this combined effort.
  

• The pilot high school survey conducted by the National Drug Abuse Control Council (NDACC) in Belize, with the technical and financial support of CICAD, will serve as a model for nine other countries in the Caribbean that are planning to do similar surveys in 2002, with the coordinated support of CAREC, UNDCP and CICAD.
  

• Helped the countries of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic complete the PACARDO drug abuse research program, which is being led by Dr. James Anthony of the Johns Hopkins University. This project, built on CICAD’s existing drug epidemiology research infrastructure, explored high concentrations or “clusters” of drug use among high school students. The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funded the research.  The preliminary reports were completed, and the consolidated findings are expected to be published in late 2001 or early 2002.

 

Strengthening of the National Observatories of the National Drug Councils in the Member States of Central America, the Dominican Republic and the Andean Countries

The goal of this project is to centralize information and national statistics on drugs, which can then be applied in planning, evaluation, study and research, and creating a single, dependable reference center at the national and international levels.  This objective will be achieved through the creation of a National Observatory on Drugs in each one of the participating countries, to later be integrated into the hemispheric system of the Inter-American Observatory on Drugs.

 

In 2001, implementation of the project Strengthening of the National Observatories of the NDCs has worked on three fronts:

 

Central America:  In Central America, the project entered the final phase.  In February and March, workshops were held to launch the National Observatories on Drugs in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.  They had already been held in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama in November of 2000.  The outcome of these workshops was the creation of a technical team in each Observatory, made up of representatives of each one of the institutions involved, and the commitment to complete the national “map” of indicators, draw up a set of regulations for the Observatory and create a web page for the dissemination of information.

 

In December 2000, and during a week of work in Madrid, the Executive Secretaries of the NDC and the technical personnel responsible for the National Observatories learned about the operation of the Spanish Observatory on Drugs, and the other courses of action adopted by the Delegation of the Government for the National Plan on Drugs, and by other institutions and entities that work in the field of drugs in Spain.  At the same time equipment was delivered to the Statistics, Information and Documentation Centers of the National Observatories, and other participating national institutions.

 

In September and November 2001, follow-up meetings were held in all the countries participating in the project.

 

Dominican Republic:  The inclusion of the Dominican Republic in this project was possible due to additional economic support from the Delegation of the Government for the National Plan on Drugs, of Spain.  The first coordination visit was in October 2001, and the workshop to launch the Observatory, took place in November 2001.  During this time, equipment will be acquired and delivered to the Statistics, Information and Documentation Center of the Observatory, and to other participating institutions.

 

Andean Countries: The project began in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela in August.  The actions that will be carried between now and the end of the project, scheduled for June 2003, are technical/financial assistance, to evaluate the operation of the project and design strategies for collaboration in improving NDC capabilities. Based on this study, participants will:  a) draw up a plan for acquiring equipment for implementation; b) design a training plan to complement resources involved in the project related to the creation and implementation of the observatories; and c) conclude with coordination visits to the countries between late August and early 2002.

 

At the “Ibero-American Meeting on National Observatories on Drugs”, held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, from September 19-22, 2001, a presentation was made on the project to all the countries.  At this meeting, organized by the presidential program known as RUMBOS, of Colombia, technical/financial support was provided by CICAD and the National Plan on Drugs, of Spain.

 

 

Estimating the Social and Economic Costs of Drugs

 

Governments, policy-makers and research agencies have shown a growing interest in examining the economic and social impact of drugs, and the first round of CICAD’s Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism included an indicator on this subject.  The Plan of Action of the III Summit of the Americas recommended “developing within the framework of CICAD, a long-term strategy that includes a three-year program to establish a basic and homogeneous mechanism to estimate the social, human and economic costs of the drug problem in the Americas, and to support countries through the necessary technical assistance.”

 

Some preparatory work has been done on methods that might be used to estimate the impact of drug abuse on the economy.  In November 1998, CICAD, with the support of the Canadian and Chilean governments, held a seminar in Santiago, Chile on how to identify realistically obtainable data and determine the most appropriate theoretical model for that country. Since that time, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA), working with CICAD, has brought together a group of researchers from around the world to develop detailed methodologies, and has published some important monographs on the subject of the costs of drugs.

 

In 2001, in response to the Summit mandate, the Executive Secretariat developed a plan to strengthen in the member states existing machinery or systems that provide basic statistics for cost estimation (SIDUC on prevalence of drug use, for example; emergency room admissions for morbidity figures; Ministry of Health data on life expectancy, etc.).  The plan is tailored to the data collection capacity of member states.  

 

 

Cooperation in the revision of the UN Annual Reports Questionnaire

 

The Observatory cooperated with UNDCP’s statistics section on the revision and simplification of the demand reduction portion of the Annual Reports Questionnaire (ARQ).  The Executive Secretariat participated in several technical meetings that led to development of the new reporting form, adopted by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs at its forty-fourth session.  The demand reduction indicators for the second round of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism were designed to reflect as closely as possible the core data reported by member states using the ARQ, to avoid duplication of effort.

 

 

Displacement

 

At the twenty-seventh regular session of CICAD in May 2000, delegations from Argentina and Venezuela requested the inclusion of “displacement” as an agenda item for the following regular session.   During the twenty-eighth regular session, the Commission directed the Executive Secretariat to begin a study, in cooperation with interested governments, on drug-related displacement.

 

During 2001 three meetings of the national Coordinators on Displacement were held.  At the first CICAD meeting on the subject (February 2001 in Miami, Florida), attended by national coordinators from seventeen member states, the group agreed on the working definition for displacement as the global phenomenon of the mobility of the different manifestations of the drug problem. In a second meeting in May 2001, fourteen member states presented reports on their findings and recommended to the Commission that in-depth, ongoing research and monitoring of the displacement phenomenon should continue as well as the development of an indicator on the subject to be included in the Second Round of Evaluation of the MEM. 

 

A third meeting on the subject was held in November 2001 in Caracas, Venezuela.  At this meeting an indicator was developed and later approved by the Commission at its thirtieth regular session.  Having accomplished this the group decided that it had fulfilled its mandate and that it would not meet again exception if the Commission reconvened it on an ad hoc basis.

 

CICAD ON THE WEB

 

In 1996, the Executive Secretariat of CICAD constructed a website www.cicad.oas.org that described the Commission’s Statute and its Regulations. Since that time the website, frequently updated, has been greatly expanded to report on new projects and events, and keep the member states up to date on developments with the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism. An electronic bulletin board with restricted access for special interest groups was established in 2001.

 

The Inter-American Observatory also provided help and technical assistance to national drug commissions in designing and updating their own web sites.

 

The Observatory’s Regional Web Page

 

The Observatory has also developed a regional drug information web page, which can be accessed at http://www.cicad.oas.org/oid.  The regional web page is designed to be a collaborative effort among national observatories on drugs and the Inter-American Observatory, to provide links to virtual libraries, national congresses, universities, media sources, regional/international organizations, and national drug commissions.  It is tailored to meet the information needs of member states in executing both the MEM and the Anti-Drug Strategy in the Hemisphere. 

 

 

Support for National Drug Commissions in the Development of  Information Technology and National Information Systems

 

Positive feedback from member states on the Observatory’s promotion of national drug information systems resulted in continuation and enhancement of these efforts in 2001.  

 

In early 2001, Observatory sponsorship of earlier workshops to promote national drug information systems in Saint Kitts and Nevis and Belize resulted, in Belize, in the formulation of a national plan for automating MEM-related information exchange.  Belize’s National Drug Abuse Control Council (NDACC) formed inter-ministerial Committees to work on this activity, for which it is also receiving technical support from the University of Belize. Similar national workshops to develop drug information systems were held in Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic during the second half of the year. 

 

The Observatory has also worked with the NSF to develop a project to foster communications between Colombia’s central government and the country’s Siona Indian population.  The project will make possible automatic and instantaneous computer translation between Spanish and the language of the Siona.  Discussions are underway for the implementation of a similar project utilizing Quechua as the target language.

 

To provide CICAD representatives and national drug council executives with topical and current drug-related information, the Observatory developed and published five issues of an on-line bulletin.  It expanded the content of its regional WEB page by uploading the results of the various workshops and adding to the information available in the sections on each country.  Country pages are for the use of national drug councils for publicizing their work and achievements.

 

The project monitoring software developed for the Government of Peru by the Anti-Drug Foundation of El Salvador (FUNDASALVA), under contract to CICAD, was translated into English in 2001.  Subject to the availability of funding, software installation and training in interested countries are projected for early 2002.