• OAS restarts cooperation with emphasis on security and drug trafficking (El Tiempo, Honduras, only in Spanish) (Published on Jan 25, 2012)
• JOB OPPORTUNITY AT SE CICAD: TITLE AND GRADE: SENIOR DRUG ABUSE CONTROL SPECIALIST – P05 (Published on Jan 20, 2012)
• CICAD's activities in second half of 2011: 25th Anniversay of Founding (Published on Jan 11, 2012)
• Drug treatment courts to be studied in Panama with CICAD's assistance, La Prensa (Only available in Spanish) (Published on Jan 10, 2012)
• Life Skills program reaches 19 schools in Colina, Mexico. (Only available in Spanish) (Published on Jan 10, 2012)
• Overdosing on extremism - by Kevin A. Sabet, The New York Times Op-Ed (Published on Jan 10, 2012)
• Drug Treatment Court of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, earns recognition for judicial innovation (only in Spanish) (Published on Dec 7, 2011)
• alertamerica.org - Drugs: We Are All Now In the Same Game (Published on Dec 7, 2011)
• Amphetamine-Type Stimulants in Latin America: Preliminary assessment report 2011 - UNODC - Global SMART Programme (only available in English) - 38 pages, 524 kb (Published on Dec 1, 2011)
• Final Report of the meeting of Caribbean Drug Observatories in Trinidad and Tobago, September 13-16, 2011 (Published on Nov 9, 2011)
• CNN interview about synthetic drug trafficking, with CICAD Assistant Executive Secretary Rafael Franzini Batlle (video only in Spanish), March 27, 2010 (Published on Mar 27, 2010)

New Hemispheric Drug Strategy

• Hemispheric Drug Strategy (PDF, 122.5 kb)
• Hemispheric Plan of Action on Drugs, 2011-2015 (PDF, 177 kb)
• Introduction to the New Hemispheric Drug Strategy by James Mack, former CICAD Executive Secretary, June 2010
• Resolution of the OAS General Assembly, June 8, 2010
• A Comprehensive Drug Strategy, José Miguel Insulza, OAS Secretary General. Originally published in Huffington Post, June 23, 2010

CICAD Documents

• Regular and Extraordinary Session Meetings: Final Reports, presentations and working papers
• Annual Reports to the OAS General Assembly: 2010 :: 2009 :: 2008 :: 2007 :: 1999-2009 
• CICAD Statute and Regulations (amended 1996) - PDF, 65 kb
• Anti-Drug Strategy in the Hemisphere (1996)
  • Action Plan for the Implementation of the Anti-Drug Strategy
• Inter-American Program of Action of Rio de Janeiro Against the Illicit Use and Production of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and Traffic Therein (1987)
  • Statute of the Specific Fund of the Program of Action of Rio de Janeiro
  • Declaration and Program of Action of Ixtapa (1990): guidelines for implementing the Program of Rio
• Inter-American Program of Quito (1990): Comprehensive Education to Prevent Drug Abuse

CICAD Briefing Papers

• Focus on CICAD - December 2011 (PDF, 385 kb) ::: May 2011 (PDF, 890kb) ::: January 2011 (PDF, 326 kb) ::: May 2010 (PDF, 480 kb)
• CICAD brief (2 page summary of programs and projects, November 2011, PDF, 88 kb) and in Spanish, French and Portuguese

CICAD Achievements

• A brief summary of CICAD achievements over the last decade (2005)
• Testimony of CICAD Executive Secretary James Mack before the US Congress, March 30, 2006
• The CICAD Observer archives. A quarterly newsletter about CICAD activity.

Summits of the Americas

Every four years, the meeting of heads of state and government of the Hemisphere agree to an agenda of political commitment and international cooperation. Among the measures adopted, they give specific mandates on dealing with the drug problem and related issues. Here are extracted the relevant points.

• Port of Spain 2009
  • Declaration of Commitment
• Mar del Plata 2005
  • Declaration and Action Plan
• Quebec 2001
  • Extract of the Final Declaration and the Plan of Action related to CICAD and the MEM
• Santiago 1998 
  • Final Declaration
  • Plan of Action

International and Inter-American Treaties and Conventions

• UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (PDF,  2000) and its three protocols: the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition
• Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and other related materials (CIFTA) (1997)
• Inter-American Convention against Corruption (HTML, 1996)
• UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PDF, 1988)
• Declaration on Security in the Americas (PDF, 2003)

Firearms

• Model Regulations for the Control of the International Movements of Firearms, their parts, components and ammunition
• Model Regulations for the Control of Brokers of Firearms, their parts, components and ammunition
• Small Arms and Light Weapons Administration (SALSA) System

Latest Publications

Comparative Analysis of Student Drug Use in Caribbean Countries

A Report on Student Drug Use in 12 Caribbean Countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname. This report is the synthesis of separate but similar studies that were implemented in 12 countries between 2005 and 2007, using one of the protocols of CICAD’s Inter-American Drug Use Data System (SIDUC). The protocol outlines the methodology for implementing drug prevalence surveys among secondary school students. This work looks comparatively at drug use among groups of countries or the Caribbean region as a whole. Washington, DC, 2010, 88 pages, 43 tables, 37 figures. Online version (PDF, 1.8 mb). More information in OID.

Hemispheric Report of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) – Fifth Evaluation Round

The Hemispheric Report: Evaluating Progress in Drug Control - Fifth Evaluation Round of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) addresses the collective progress of the CICAD member states in confronting the global drug problem from a hemispheric perspective, in the following areas: Institutional Strengthening (National Anti-drug Plans; International Conventions; National Information Systems), Demand Reduction (Prevention; Treatment; Statistics on Consumption), Supply Reduction (Drug Production; Alternative, Integral and Sustainable Development; Pharmaceutical Products; Chemical Substances) and Control Measures (Illicit Drug Trafficking; Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and other Related Materials; Money Laundering; Judicial Cooperation). In addition, it provides an analysis of the recommendations assigned to the member states, identifying areas that the MEM believes require further attention, in order to strengthen national anti-drug policies. It covers the period of 2007-2009. The content of the Hemispheric Report was approved at the forty-ninth regular session of CICAD, in May 2011.  Washington, DC, 2011, 53 pages, 24 tables, 16 graphics.  Online version (PDF, 3.6 mb, high resolution) (PDF, 831 kb, web optimized).  For more details, see the MEM section.

Reference Guides

Building a national drugs observatory: a joint handbook

The European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and CICAD published jointly a reference guide entitled Building a National Drugs Observatory: a joint handbook. The publication is based on experience over the last two decades gained by the EMCDDA in setting up national focal points or the Reitox network in Europe and by CICAD's Inter-American Drug Observatory (OID) in advising national drug observatories in its member states. Lisbon, 2010,  114 pages.  The handbook is available in online (PDF, 899 kb) and in eight languages. A print copy is available by ordering through EMCDDA. More information in OID. 

How to Develop a National Drug Policy

Jointly with the CARICOM Secretariat, CICAD drafted guidelines for developing, implementing and evaluating national drug control plans, strategies and programs, working closely with national drug commissions in the region. The final product was published as a standardized reference guide, How to Develop a National Drug Control Policy: A Guide for Policymakers, Practitioners, and Stakeholders. However, although originally aimed at Caribbean countries, the material can be used in other regions with minimal adaptation. Washington, DC, 2009, 67 pages, 9 figures, bibliographic references, online version  (PDF 1.4 mb).  More information in the Institutional Strengthening section.

CICAD Hemispheric Guidelines on School-based Prevention

As developed by CICAD's Expert Group on Demand Reduction and approved by the Commission in 2004, these guidelines speak to strategies to conduct research, create educational materials, train teachers, and carry out and evaluate prevention programs at the national level in a way that is responsive to regional, state, and local needs expressed within each school. Drug use problems threaten personal health, disrupt family integration, propagate delinquency and violence, and endanger a child’s healthy social development. Washington, DC, 2005, 29 pp, online (PDF, 1.1 mb). More information in Demand Reduction.

Integrated Solutions

Establishing Drug Treatment Courts: Strategies, Experiences and Preliminary Outcomes

Under the EU-LAC Drug Treatment City Partnerships project, two volumes were prepared by CICAD; the Justice Programs Office, School of Public Affairs, American University; the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IRCP), Universiteit Gent (Belgium); the Ministerio Público of Chile (General Prosecutor’s Office); and the International Association of Drug Treatment Courts (IADTC). Washington, DC, 2010, Volume one (PDF, 950 kb), 152 pp  and Volume two (PDF, 7.55 mb), 571 pp. More information in the EU-LAC project.

Status of Drug Treatment at the Local Level (cities) Information from 19 cities from Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean

This publication was drafted under the EU-LAC Drug Treatment City Partnerships project. About cities from both sides of the Atlantic undertook an assessment of the status of drug treatment at the local level, with special attention to the description of care needs arising from drug use, and the available supply of services. Washington, DC, 2010, 267 pp, online version (PDF, 2.07 mb). More information in the EU-LAC project.

Drug Trend Research

New trends in drug consumption among youth in six countries - 2009-2010

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the OID and the national drug commissions of the six participating countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay), presented the second joint study of secondary students: "Information for the design of national and regional strategies on drug control for youth" (Información para el diseño de las estrategias nacionales y regionales sobre la problemática de drogas en jóvenes). The study (PDF, 3.4 mb, 90 pages) is only available in Spanish. More information in OID.

Comparative Study on Drug Use in the General Population in 6 South American Countries - 2008

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), CICAD through the Inter-American Observatory on Drugs (OID), and the national drug commissions of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay prepared a report on the study "Guidelines for Public Policies on Drugs in the Subregion: First Comparative Study on Drug Consumption and Associated Factors among the General Population (15-64 Years Old)." (Elementos orientadores para las políticas públicas sobre drogas en la Subregión: Primer estudio comparativo sobre consumo de drogas y factores asociados en población de 15 a 64 años.). The study is only available in Spanish (PDF, 94 pp, 2.33 Mb). An executive summary is available in English (PDF, 6 pp, 66 kb). More information in OID.

Study on Drug Use among Secondary School Students in South America - 2006

The Inter-American Observatory on Drugs (OID), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and nine national drug commissions (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay) published the study "Youth and Drugs in South American Countries: A Challenge for Public Policies" (Jóvenes y drogas en países sudamericanos: un desafío para las políticas públicas). This study is the first of its kind, using comparable methodologies from the start. It is based on a sampling of 350,000 students (ages 14-17), representing a total population of 9.5 million. The report deals with the problem of alcohol and tobacco, as well as the use of tranquilizers and stimulants without medical prescription, and inhalants. The report is currently available only in Spanish (112 pp., Adobe Acrobat PDF, 3,2 Mb). An executive summary in English (27 pp., Adobe Acrobat PDF, 150 kb) is available. More information in OID.

Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism

CICAD publishes country reports and a report on the hemispheric of the impact of the global drug problem and the region's response. See the MEM section for the pertinent publications.