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Chair’s Report – Economic and Social Question of the Impact of Illicit Drugs on Sustainable Development and the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Basic Information: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the world's time-bound and quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions-income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion-while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability Sustainable development: economic development that is conducted without depletion of natural resources. Illicit drugs are those that are illegal to make, sell, or use. They include: cocaine, amphetamines, heroin etc. The Issue: The relationship between psychotropic or “mind/mood altering” drugs and sustainable development is rooted in the contribution that the legal and illegal drug trade makes to a set of barriers to development, including: (1) interpersonal crime and community violence; (2) the corruption of public servants and the disintegration of social institutions; (3) the emergence of new or enhanced health problems; (4) the lowering of worker productivity; (5) the ensnarement of youth in drug distribution and away from productive education or employment; (6) the skewing of economies to drug production and money laundering. Illicit drugs impact on development in a number of ways. Drug use contributes to diminished health, leading to higher healthcare costs and decreased earning at the population level. This is most noticeable in the area of HIV/AIDS where the sharing of needles not only spreads HIV infection among people who inject drugs but also serves to fuel the broader spread of the epidemic. The negative consequences of drug abuse affect not only individuals who abuse drugs but also their families and friends, various businesses, and government resources. Although many of these effects cannot be quantified, ONDCP recently reported that in 2002, the economic cost of drug abuse to the United States was $180.9 billion. (National Drug Threat Assessment 2006) In the past decade, there has been significant growth in the illicit trafficking of drugs. Trafficking in these and other commodities is generally characterized by high levels of organization and the presence of strong criminal groups and networks. While such activities existed in the past, both the scale and the geographic scope of the current challenge are unprecedented. In 2009, the value of illicit trade around the globe was estimated at US$1.3 trillion and is increasing. It has also recognized that “despite continuing increased efforts by States, relevant organizations, civil society and nongovernmental organizations, the world drug problem…undermines socio-economic and political stability and sustainable development.” (General Assembly of the UN) UN Action: Several international conventions on drug control, and more recently the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) constitute the key framework for a strategic response. Such instruments call upon State Parties to take “into account the negative effects of organized crime on society in general, in particular on sustainable development”, and “to alleviate the factors that make persons, especially women and children, vulnerable to trafficking, such as poverty, underdevelopment and lack of equal opportunity.” Because of the increasing toll of drugs, both licit and illicit, in the developing world, and that fact that existing drug policy extensively shapes this toll, it would seem that the time has come for considering new alternatives and approaches that might be more effective in curbing the negative effects of the global drug trade. Some alternative measures have been suggested or attempted in recent years, including: (1) offering drug crop farmers alternative livelihoods by providing them with skills and opportunities to engage in other economic activities, opportunities that are capable of raising their standard of living significantly beyond the meager levels usually available in growing drug crops; (2) harm reduction efforts that lower the health risk among those who choose to use drugs, avoid demonizing drugs users, and insure their inclusion as full societal members; (3) effectively controlling the legal drug industry, both in terms of promotional efforts and product diversion. To this list, we must add the critical need for controlling demand by addressing the inequitable social and economic conditions that lead to compensatory drug use in the first place and the health benefits that could be derived from prioritizing prevention and treatment over interdiction. UN agencies and member states have made some progress in recent years in addressing these tensions, but there is a long way to go to find an integrated approach to drug control that maximizes the protection of health and human rights, and the promotion of social and economic development.