At a Ministerial Conference held in Paris last May, Mr Jacques Chirac, President of France observed that: "One of the great challenges of globalisation [is that] there are no longer transit countries or consumer countries; there are only victim countries. [Drug] producing countries are locked in a vicious cycle. Consumer countries are loosing their lifeblood."

He called for a new and comprehensive approach that would help eradicate production and mobilise consumer countries to curb their domestic demand and fight drugs and drug trafficking more effectively.

In his address, UN Office on Drugs & Crime Executive Director, Mr Antonio Maria Costa called on countries to combine their wills and efforts to step up national capabilities to deal with trafficking. He suggested that they develop regional partnerships and tackle all aspects of the problem through a multilateral strategy.

The UN International Day against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking, held in June, was commemorated with the slogan: 'Let's talk about drugs'.

Marking the occasion, UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan observed that the theme underlined the need for children, families, peers, teachers and communities to talk about drug abuse, admit that it is a problem, and take responsibility for doing something about it.

There are three UN fact sheets highlighting the importance of talking about drugs in school, in the family and among peers:

www.unodc.org/pdf/26june03/school_english.pdf

www.unodc.org/pdf/26june03/parents_english.pdf

www.unodc.org/pdf/26june03/peers_english.pdf

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