Resolution 53/4. Promoting adequate availability of internationally controlled licit drugs for medical and scientific purposes while preventing their diversion and abuse

Stressing the importance of promoting adequate availability of internationally controlled licit drugs for medical and scientific purposes while preventing their diversion and abuse,

Recalling the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol, in which the parties recognized that the medical use of narcotic drugs continued to be indispensable for the relief of pain and suffering and that adequate provision must be made to ensure the availability of narcotic drugs for such purposes, Recalling also the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971,  in which it is recognized that the use of psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes is indispensable and that their availability for such purposes should not be unduly restricted,

Affirming that the international drug control conventions seek to achieve a balance between ensuring the availability of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances under international control for medical and scientific purposes and  preventing their diversion and abuse,

Concerned that, although there is sufficient supply of licit opiate raw materials to meet global requirements, as highlighted in the annual reports of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2008 and 2009, access to opioid-based medications is non-existent or almost non-existent in many countries and regions,

Noting the concern expressed by the International Narcotics Control Board in its annual report for 2009 that some Governments need to take specific measures to ensure that their populations have adequate access to opioid-based medications in line with the international drug control conventions,

Noting the medical and scientific needs for internationally controlled substances worldwide to be met within a regulatory and legal framework that prevents their diversion and abuse,

Also noting that the survey of Governments carried out by the International Narcotics Control Board in 2007 identified concern about addiction to narcotic drugs to be the primary factor in the underutilization of essential medicines, followed by the factors of insufficient training of health-care professionals and the existence of restrictive laws that did not take into account the need to ensure the medical availability of narcotic drugs,

Further noting that in the Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem,  Member States called for continued cooperation among Member States, the International Narcotics Control Board and the World Health Organization to ensure the adequate availability of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances under international control, including opiates, for medical and scientific purposes, while concurrently preventing their diversion into illicit channels, pursuant to the international drug control conventions,

Supports recommendation 39 of the International Narcotics Control Board contained in its annual report for 2009, in which the Board called on Governments to promote access to and rational use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, to adopt measures against unlawful medical practice and to ensure that domestic distribution channels were adequately controlled, and Board  recommendation 40, in which the Board requested Governments of countries in which factors such as knowledge limitations and administrative barriers stricter than the control measures required under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 affected the availability of opioid analgesics to identify the impediments in their countries to the access and adequate use of opioid analgesics for the treatment of pain and to take steps to improve the availability of those narcotic drugs for medical purposes, in accordance with the pertinent recommendations of the World Health Organization;

6. Also encourages Member States, where necessary, to educate regulators and health-care professionals, including through targeted awareness-raising campaigns, to recognize that the medical use of narcotic drugs continues to be indispensable for the relief of pain and suffering and that adequate provision must be made to ensure the availability of narcotic drugs for such purposes, taking into account the pertinent recommendations of the World Health Organization and in line with the international drug control conventions;

9. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to continue its efforts to ensure the adequate availability of internationally controlled drugs for medical and scientific purposes, cooperating, as appropriate, through the Access to Controlled Medications Programme of the World Health Organization, while continuing its activities to prevent diversion and abuse;

12. Also invites Member States to consider ways to leverage existing health and development programmes in countries without adequate availability of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes, including by building the capacity of those countries through training