Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T18:22:32.344Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Guiding principles of drug demand reduction: An international response

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Hamid Ghodse
Hamid Ghodse*
Affiliation:
Department of Addictive Behaviour & Psychological Medicine, St George's Hospital Medical School, London
*
Professor Hamid Ghodse, Department of Addictive Behaviour & Psychological Medicine, St George's Hospital Medical School, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

The 20th century has seen the globalisation and homogenisation of substance misuse problems, blurring traditional boundaries between producer and consumer countries and forcing the international community to consider new responses to substance misuse.

Aims

To highlight the importance of the principles of illicit drug demand reduction and related activities in tackling global drug problems and to discuss the commitment made by United Nations (UN) Member States at the highest political level towards meeting the objectives set in their Declaration on the Guiding Principles.

Method

A review of international responses to substance misuse.

Results

Traditionally, the focus has been on reducing the supply of controlled drugs, while maintaining adequate supplies of narcotic and psychotropic drugs for clinical and scientific purposes. However, it has become apparent that supply reduction in isolation is insufficient and demand reduction is now receiving greater emphasis – culminating in the UN General Assembly adopting the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Demand Reduction in 1998.

Conclusions

This declaration offers a genuinely holistic approach to the complexities of substance misuse. To be successful, it requires the commitment of governments at the highest level and the willing participation of small communities.

Type
Review Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 175 , Issue 4 , October 1999 , pp. 310 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Declaration of interest

None.

References

Centre for Substance Abuse Treatment (1996) The National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study, Preliminary Report: The Persistent Effects of Substance Abuse Treatment – One Year Later. Rockville. MD: US Department of Health and Human Services.Google Scholar
Flay, B. R. & Sobel, J. L. (1983) The role of mass media in preventing adolescent substance abuse. In NIDA Research Monograph 47. Preventing Adolescent Drug Abuse: Intervention Strategies (eds Glynn, T. J., Leukeseld, C. G. & Ludford, J. P.), pp. 5–35. Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.Google Scholar
Geastein, D. R., Johnson, R. A., Harwood, H. J., et al (1994) Evaluating Recovery Services: The Californian Drug and Alcohol Treatment Assessment (CAL-DATA). Sacramento, CA: Californian Department of Alcohol and Drug Programmes.Google Scholar
Ghodse, H. (1995) International policies on addiction. Strategy developments and cooperation, British Journal of Psychiatry, 166. 145–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldstein, A. & Kalant, H. (1990) Drug policy: striking the right balance. Science, 249, 1513–1524.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
International Narcotics Control Board (1993) Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 1993. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
International Narcotics Control Board (1995) Effectiveness of the International Drug Control Treaties (supplement to the Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 1994). New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
Rydell, P. & Everingham, S. S. (1994a) Controlling Cocaine: Supply versus Demand Programmes. Santa Monica, CA: and Corporation.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rydell, P. & Everingham, S. S. (1994b) Modelling the Demand for Cocaine. Santa Monica, CA: and Corporation.Google Scholar
United Nations (1987) Report of the International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Vienna: United Nations.Google Scholar
United Nations (1990) Political Declaration & Global Programme of Action. Feb (A/Res/S-17/2). New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
United Nations Economic and Social Council (1996) Principles and Practice of Primary and Secondary Prevention and Demand Reduction Programmes. Vienna: UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.Google Scholar
United Nations General Assembly (1998) Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reductions, A/S-20/11. Vienna: United Nations.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1993) WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, Twenty-Eighth Report (WHO Technical Report Series No. 836). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1998) WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, Thirtieth Report (WHO Technical Report Series No. 873). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.