The AUC Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development (HHS) through the Social Welfare, Drug Control, and Crime Prevention Division, organized a 3-day, Continental capacity-building workshop on synthetic drug supply reduction in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
The consultation was held under the theme “Strengthening Synthetic Drug Supply Reduction efforts towards addressing drug trafficking and advancing crime prevention, criminal justice, and rule of law in Africa”.
Intergovernmental experts also met to facilitate the implementation of comprehensive and integrated strategies to address drug trafficking and related transnational organized crime as well as enhance international cooperation and collaboration.
Opening the workshop, AUC Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development Ambassador Minata Samate Cessouma revealed that the AU continental drug sentinel surveillance network-the Pan African Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (PAENDU) has long drawn attention to the seriousness of the problem that synthetic drug use and trafficking pose for our Continent.
How to respond, with an emphasis on accelerating coordinated multi-sectoral approaches to prevent illicit drug manufacturing, detect emerging drug threats, disrupt trafficking and associated organized crime, and promptly address impacts on public safety and public health should be the focus, she elaborated. that the main focus must therefore be on.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) representative, Ruth Aurelie emphasized the importance on the lessons learned in the collective efforts to tackle drug abuse in Africa.
High-level scientific consultation on prevention and treatment of drug use disorders in Côte d'Ivoire and the launch of the first University Degree in Addictology in West Africa by the Faculty of Medicine in Senegal are among the significant steps taken, she indicated.
US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Chief of the Counternarcotic Branch, Brian Morales said that every region around the globe is experiencing a rapid rise of synthetic drugs supply and use.
Unlike plant-based drugs, synthetics are relatively easy to produce and traffic, he said, and emphasized that the harms of synthetic drugs impact the economic, public health, and security sectors, among others.
“Therefore, interconnected efforts need to be made in order to address this global challenge, sooner than later,” Morales noted.
International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) President, Professor Jallal Toufiq on his part said that indicators suggest a potential worsening in what concerns illicit synthetic drug manufacture and use globally.
There is still significant potential to enhance national, regional, and global collective efforts for coordination, timely data-sharing, the President pointed out, and stressed “above all, use of existing systems and platforms.”
The Continental Consultation on Synthetic Drug Supply Reduction aims to improve the health, security, and socio-economic well-being of people in Africa by addressing drug trafficking and problematic drug use in all its forms and manifestations and preventing the onset of drug use.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency