Co-operation of countries within the Organization of American States to combat drug problems

The Organization of American States, an intergovernmental organization of 31 member States, has given the highest priority to the promotion of co-operative inter-American action to combat drug problems. In resolution 699, adopted at its Fourteenth Regular Meeting in November 1984, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States recognized drug trafficking as a crime affecting all of mankind and convoked the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Traffic in Narcotic Drugs to take place at Rio de Janeiro in April 1986. The Conference, which analysed drug problems in all their aspects, focused on problems of drug trafficking and on ways and means to resolve them. It also emphasized the need to increase public awareness of the dangers of drug abuse and its associated problems with a view to decreasing illicit demand for drugs in the Americas. The Conference adopted specific measures for promoting effective inter-American co-operation to help member States to reduce the illegal cultivation of narcotic crops, to eliminate clandestine drug laboratories, to interrupt the flow and distribution of illicit drugs, and to find the means of taking the profit out of drug trafficking operations.