Drugs:

1. Summit of the Americas, Miami, USA (December 1994)

By means of Initiative 6 of the Miami Plan of Action on combating the problem of illicit drugs and related crimes, Governments recognized the need to prepare a hemispheric strategy to reduce the consumption and production of drugs. Governments agreed to take the following steps:

• Ratify the 1988 United Nations Convention against the Illicit Traffic of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances;

• Work to adopt the Model Regulations of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD);

• Adopt programs to prevent and reduce the demand for and the consumption of illicit drugs;

• Adopt national strategies to prevent or reduce substantially the cultivation and processing of crops used for the illegal drug trade, paying particular attention to alternative development programs;

• Control precursor chemical products;

• Strengthen efforts to control traffic in firearms, and avoid having them fall into the hands of criminal organizations;

• Consider the advisability of an inter-American convention to combat money laundering.

2. Between the Summits (January 1995-March 1998)

Countries of the hemisphere reiterated their commitment to a set of standards and principles to guide their efforts in combating drugs.  Their actions include:

• The 34 member states of the OAS have ratified or acceded to the 1998 United Nations Convention against the Illicit Traffic of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances.

• Within the context of the OAS, through the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), the Anti-Drug Strategy in the Hemisphere was negotiated and approved by Ministers of Foreign Relations in a meeting held in December 1996, in Uruguay. That Strategy is a detailed declaration of 42 points to guide common policies, commitments and planned courses of action. CICAD has prepared an integrated Plan of Action for implementing the Strategy.

• Member States, with assistance from CICAD, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), the European Union and many other donors such as the Governments of France, Japan, South Korea and Spain, strengthened their programs to reduce the demand for drugs; control chemicals used in the manufacture of illicit drugs, and control the cultivation of the crops from which illicit drugs are produced.

• In November 1995, the Ministerial Conference on Money Laundering was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, following a series of expert meetings, the goal of which was to reach agreement on a coordinated response to combating money laundering. The conference, which was attended by the heads of central banks from all over the hemisphere, produced a communiqu� that sets out a coordinated action plan with respect to legal, regulatory and enforcement issues, and calls for ongoing evaluations of progress achieved.

• In order to strengthen efforts at controlling firearms, ammunition and explosives, and to prevent their diversion to drug traffickers and other criminals, the member States of the OAS worked from April to November 1997 to negotiate an Inter-American Convention against the Manufacture and Illicit Traffic of Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Related Materials. Those negotiations culminated in the signing of the Convention at OAS headquarters, in the presence of Presidents Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and Bill Clinton of the United States.

  [Miami Summit/tracker.htm]