CANADA A 'LOOPHOLE' IN WAR ON DRUGS, UN AGENCY WARNS

GENEVA - A United Nations drug control agency says Canada is violating the
1971 convention on mind- altering substances.

Canada makes no effort to monitor the sale of such prescription drugs as
barbiturates and amphetamines, making it easy for them to be diverted to
the black market, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) says.

"We have been very disappointed that the people responsible for these
issues in the government are not paying sufficient attention to it," says
Herbert Schaepe, secretary of the INCB.

"We have not been able to solve this through the usual silent diplomacy,"
adds Schaepe. "So, therefore, the INCB has no other remedy but to call the
attention of the public to it."

The INCB is part of the United Nations International Drug Control Program
in Vienna. It has just issued its annual report, which assesses the
drug-control situation worldwide.

Since 1987, when Canada agreed to the convention, the INCB has been trying
to get Ottawa to implement its control provisions.

"And after 13 years," says Schaepe, "we now have to report to the
international community that Canada is the only developed country with
serious deficiencies when it comes to the implementation of that treaty.

"Canada is a loophole in the international drug control system."

The 1971 convention obliges all governments to introduce certain control
measures such as licensing of companies, import-export authorizations,
prescription requirements and inspection requirements.

Psychotropic drugs such as benzodiazepines, familiarly known as "bennies,"
phenobarbital, various barbiturates, amphetamines and anorectics or
"slimming pills" can be obtained legally by prescription.

The large demand for many of these mind-altering drugs has led to a
flourishing illicit trade, the report says.

Schaepe says people who want to divert these substances to illicit markets
"can do that easily through Canadian brokers or Canadian companies because
there are simply no records, there is no monitoring of these movements."

However, Prof. Neil Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University in
Burnaby, B.C., says the market for such drugs is "very limited."

"The notion that Canada is a transshipment point, there's not much evidence
that that takes place."