CICAD Secretariat finds renewal of  leadership within its own ranks

At the 41st regular session of CICAD in May, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza announced the appointment of Rafael Franzini-Batlle as CICAD’s Assistant Executive Secretary. Mr. Franzini-Batlle previously held the post of chief of CICAD’s Anti-Money Laundering Section. Former Deputy Secretary Abraham Stein was appointed to the post of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multidimensional Security. The promotions of Franzini-Batlle and Stein entailed additional changes among CICAD's program coordinators. Read the full story...

For the Record:
the MEM Achievements Report 1997-2007

The Report on the Achievements of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM): 1997-2007, released in June, marks a milestone in CICAD's evolution as a consensus forging institution. The MEM is the Americas' core tool for translating a hemispheric agreement on goals for drug abuse control into  concrete, practical terms of each country's government policy and enforcement. The report takes a snapshot of its first decade's accomplishments, country by country and as a whole. Read the full story...

The tale of a survey: Beware of marijuana

María Teresa Chadwick, Executive Secretary of Chile's National Council for the Control of Narcotics (CONACE), explains the importance of the Seventh National Study of Drug Usage in the General Population as a barometer of drug use trends in Chile. In an exclusive article for the Observer, she highlights the stagnant consumption of coca paste and cocaine but warns about a sharp increase in the use of marijuana: last year’s prevalence rose from 5.3% to 7% nationally. CICAD promotes population surveys as a vital instrument for the generation and evaluation of government policy Read the full story...

Featured Contributor: Canada

The Government of Canada has leveraged its contributions in cash, in kind and in expertise to ensure the viability of CICAD as an agent of change in the hemisphere even before it joined the OAS in 1990. Read the full story...

New research network for alternative development

Together with organizations from Thailand, Laos, China, Afghanistan, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, CICAD has launched the Alternative Development Knowledge Network (ADKN). The web site facilitates the sharing of experiences and know-how concerning the cultivation and production of alternatives to illicit crops. Read the full story...

News and activities

Universities partner on education development and research

With the support from the Government of Spain and the Pan American Health Organization, academic leaders from 44 university schools of nursing, public health, medicine and education in Latin America gathered in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), August 13-17, to pool their experience and expertise in applying an international health perspective to drug issues in the Western Hemisphere. The meeting also explored how to increase cooperation and research across different academic disciplines. Previously, multicentric research activities occurred within academic disciplines. There were 85 participants, mostly deans and professors, from 17 countries from South and Central America and the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico.

Research grants encourage junior investigators

In partnership with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, United States), the Inter-American Observatory on Drugs has awarded 15 research grants among 31 epidemiological researchers in six countries: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Uruguay. All the proposals were presented by teams of researchers. Funding for each project is for a maximum US$3,000. This joint initiative aims to encourage investigation and analysis of existing survey data by junior academics working with national drug commissions and observatories through their respective universities. Topics range from risk factors associated with drug consumption to substance abuse by high school students. The next round of applications will be called in the third quarter of 2007.

Recruitment for online training program surpasses target

The University of the West Indies received 53 applications for the inaugural semester of the On-line Certificate in Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment, and many more inquiries came in after the application deadline.  UWI’s Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC) determined that 32 met all the requirements and were accepted.  Class will start in the first week of September, and continue for three terms covering a full year. See the remarks by Dr. Lawrence D Carrington, the UWI Pro Vice Chancellor and Chair of the Board of Non-Campus Countries and Distance Education, at the Jamaica launch of the application campaign.

Other CICAD activities

The next Commission will take place in Santa Marta, Colombia, November 27-30... The MEM's Governmental Experts Group will meet on Monday, September 24 to Friday, October 5, 2007 in Washington, DC, to put the finishing touches on the country reports of the Fourth Evaluation Round... CARICOM Demand Reduction Training Workshop and the Meeting of Caribbean National Observatories on Drugs will take place in Grenada on September 10-14… A Workshop for Strengthening of National Treatment Systems in Central America will take place September 17-21 in Antigua, Guatemala… Meetings of the Expert Groups on Chemical Precursors and Pharmaceutical Products will be held in Mexico City September 17-20... The Expert Group on Money Laundering Control will be meeting in Santiago in mid-November (tentative date).

For up-to-date information about conferences, workshops, and courses, please check the CICAD web calendar.

Online Resources: Spanish Drug Information

The Union of Associations and Organizations of Drug Dependency Treatment (Unión de Asociaciones y Entidades de Atención al Drogodependiente - UNAD), founded in 1985, is a non-government organization that brings together organizations working on drug dependency and related problems in Spain. Grouping more than 300 institutions that share principles and goals, it has been part of the Ibero-American Network of NGOs  Working on Drug Dependency (Red Iberoamericana de ONGs que Trabajan en Drogodependencias - RIOD) since its founding… The Institute for the Study of Addictions (Instituto para el Estudio de la Adicciones), created in 1996, is a non- Spanish governmental organization that provides information, investigation and  training about drug abuse prevention and treatment… El Drug Dependency Research Institute (Instituto de Investigación de Drogodependencia) belongs to the Miguel Hernández University and produces the publication Salud y Drogas since 2001…. Drugs and the Brain is a Flash animation that explains how the brain and its 100 billion nerve cells function, how the different controlled substances, from tobacco and alcohol to heroin, affect the brain and what the consequences of drug use are. It is  available in 15 European languages, including English… LasDrogas.net is a web directory in Spanish with 157 categories y 1747 links.

Shared Responsibility: the government of Colombia created an informative website that deals with how narcotrafficking is affecting Colombia and elsewhere in a variety of ways. It keeps an eye for news stories that gives insight into drug issues.  Recent links referred to the Czech Republic and Australia. It is only available in English.