Director-General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for inviting me to address you at this event covering one of the key challenges of the world drug problem today.
I want to commend the government of China for organizing this event on the diversion of non-scheduled chemicals for illicit drug production.
Synthetic drugs have changed the face of the illicit drug market, making it nimbler and deadlier.
They are cheaper and easier to produce, relying on clandestine labs that can be set up anywhere, which has raised the profit margin of traffickers sharply.
And they are more potent, which has sharply increased drug-related deaths in some countries.
This agile, lethal market is booming.
Last year’s World Drug Report showed record levels of seizures for opioids and amphetamine-type stimulants, along with an alarming upward trend for seizures of new psychoactive substances.
At the core of this threat is the dynamic nature of production, using a near endless range of different chemical combinations, including uncontrolled chemicals.
And at the start of the chain is the diversion of chemicals from legal industry into the illicit market.
The pool of potential precursors is growing exponentially, as organized criminal groups have innovated production and expanded the use of non-controlled chemicals or pre-precursors, and these chemicals are finding their way into the wrong hands.
Member States have a responsibility to close this loophole in the international drug response, while preserving the right to economic development.
Chemical producers have a responsibility to cooperate fully with governments and ensure that their products do not slip out of the legal supply chain, and should be held accountable.
And the international community has a responsibility to build the right frameworks and capacities to enable an effective response.
Excellencies,
To keep up with the rapid evolution of synthetic drugs, precursors, and non-controlled chemicals, we need a comprehensive approach rooted in science, and we need our response to be faster paced.
That is the goal of UNODC’s Synthetic Drugs Strategy, and of the new synthetic drug plan of the Mekong MoU on drug control.
And it is the approach that UNODC is promoting and supporting on the ground in our operations in Asia and other parts of the world, notably Latin America.
One of the most important elements of keeping up with the synthetic drug market is early warning, to detect and monitor substances and chemicals, and to try and predict what might come next.
UNODC’s Early Warning Advisory on New Psychoactive Substances was used by experts from 205 countries and territories in 2023, and I encourage you to make the most of it.
Forensic capacity and international sharing of forensic information and law enforcement intelligence is also more important than ever.
In 2023, the UNODC Laboratory provided support to more than 300 national forensic drug testing and toxicology labs worldwide, including on identifying drugs and precursor chemicals.
We also helped countries in Latin America and Asia safely dispose of over 300 tons of drugs and chemicals in the last year.
And we have developed the UN Toolkit on Synthetic Drugs, an online portal offering over 400 practical tools that has been used by more than 156,000 practitioners.
Working together, we can make sure that the technical tools and capacities available are up to the challenge of synthetic drugs.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Perhaps the most vital element in responding to synthetic drugs and the chemicals behind them is cooperation across borders and regions, involving the public and private sectors.
No region of the world is exempt from the impact of synthetic drugs.
And no country can secure its borders alone.
The only viable solution is international and regional cooperation in good faith, based on science, and using established common grounds.
That is why events like this one are so important, to build bridges and share experiences at the CND.
The synthetic drug market is a global threat that cannot be fully disrupted anywhere without being disrupted everywhere.
And stopping the diversion of non-controlled chemicals is a crucial step on that road.
Thank you, and I wish you fruitful discussions.