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His hair is longer than it was in his former life, the life he left behind like a snake shedding its skin. A yellow bandanna wraps around his forehead, and reflective dark glasses cover his eyes, giving him the look of a ski bum trying too hard to hide middle age. Married and divorced three times, he has found serenity in his latest relationship, with an Italian woman named Monica, who runs a small grocery store. It is she who has taken the picture of him after a day in the mountains of northwestern Italy, just outside the storybook ski resort of Courmayeur. There is something wry about that little smile in the mountains, something smug and self-congratulatory. Or maybe it is just that he looks so relaxed, at ease, not a care in the world. He has left behind a trail unlike that of any previous doctor in the U. But this is like talking about a dead man. Because as Christmas nears in , nobody in the United States has a clue as to where he is. Stories about doctors causing harm by performing surgeries incorrectly, or trying to game the system by over-billing insurance companies, are hardly new. But none come close to the depredations of Mark Weinberger as pieced together through dozens of interviews and an examination of thousands of pages of court records. His is a saga so disturbing, cruel, and bizarre as to be almost surreal. Weinberger himself told his wife at a time when he was still practicing but under increasing scrutiny that he was the victim of a grand conspiracy brought on by other professionals envious of his phenomenal success; they in turn had friends who were trial lawyers, and so the long knives came out. When the first wave of legal actions were taken against him, in the summer of , he painstakingly plotted to combat them. For five years he was on the run. During that time he never contacted his wife, Michelle Kramer. He never got in touch with or sent word to members of his family. He seemed settled in Courmayeur, although he apparently did not work, paid for everything in cash, and was seen getting around often by bicycle. The relationship with his new girlfriend was blooming into an improbable love affair, and they talked of adopting children together, since she could not have any of her own. But he also spent stretches of time in a tent by himself on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in the Alps, apparently proving to himself that he was able to survive. This way of living represented a wholesale re-invention, given the excessive lifestyle that had been his addiction when he still practiced medicine and lived in Chicago—the only way of proving to himself his worth and success, some believe. He had an undeveloped property of 1. He could be charming and erudite, and, having been a philosophy major at Penn, was fond of quoting Schopenhauer. He could also be dismissive and rude and narcissistic; once, according to Michelle, he said he was unhappy in their marriage over the issue of her lack of eagerness for oral sex. He would yell at nurses in his office, telling them they were fat because they were eating pizza. He would take change from shopkeepers and throw it on the ground because he could not be bothered with it. Since he was cunning and smart, his disappearance was the result not of some impulsive moment of panic but rather of painstaking plotting to ensure that nobody he knew would ever discover him. He almost certainly felt the odds of being found after five years were nonexistent. He had rendered himself invisible, just as a book on the very subject which he had bought before he left, How to Be Invisible, had instructed. There were cracks, though, little mistakes he was starting to make in Courmayeur in the summer of He was getting casual in concealing himself. But these missteps amounted to nothing, because no one was actively looking for him anymore. His actions, if all the accounts are true, resembled those of a sociopath, a monster for whom the only needs that mattered were his own. The wave of malpractice allegations could hardly have been foreseen during the academic year —96, when Mark Weinberger was a young and ambitious doctor with a fellowship at the University of Illinois at Chicago, studying under one of the most eminent rhinoplasty surgeons in the world. Eugene Tardy, now retired, under whom Weinberger served the fellowship. Daniel Becker, who was the other fellow that year and is now clinical associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the University of Pennsylvania with a private practice in New Jersey. Mark Weinberger was one of three boys born to Fred and Fanny Weinberger. He was the middle child, with a birth date of May 22, , and the family had a unique claim to fame:. They were. Her name was shortened because it would not fit on the original labels, according to the Times. The company was dissolved in , but the chopped liver still lingers, having earned mentions in exhibitions at the American Jewish Historical Society and at the National Museum of American Jewish History. Fred Weinberger worked as a physicist in Washington for the federal government, and, for a time, as an executive with the family business. According to Michelle Kramer, based on extensive conversations she had with Mark after they were married, all this achievement had not been without cost. Jeff carried the stigma of being hard to get along with and was argumentative with his parents, ultimately becoming estranged from the family; when his mother died of cancer, in May of , he did not attend the funeral. Mark, for his part, had the sense that his mother always favored Neil, because she and he had similarly artistic personalities; she liked the fact that Neil went into the film business after graduation from Penn. Mark, according to Michelle, had tried to impress his mother with his academic accomplishments. He was a cum laude graduate of Penn, then thrived in medical school at U. Later on, after Mark had become a successful doctor, Michelle would watch as he tried to impress his mother when they were out for dinner together. You should do some good in your community. Mark had what could be categorized as classic middle-child syndrome, always wanting to please and to prove his success. When Mark expanded his practice by building a state-of-the-art clinic, in , Fred Weinberger lent him a million dollars for the purchase of a CAT-scan machine. Fred was particularly proud that Mark was scientific-minded, as he himself was. The next year Fred Weinberger filed for bankruptcy. The claim was rejected. In , after completing his fellowship, Mark had begun practicing as an ear-nose-and-throat surgeon in Merrillville, Indiana, roughly 30 miles from Chicago. A tepid and dreary town of 30, at the time, Merrillville seemed an unlikely place for a doctor with such lofty credentials. But the air quality in the region was poor because of all the steel mills surrounding it. Little information is available about his first marriage, which occurred around the time he was a resident, in San Diego. On December 31, , Weinberger, then 34, got married for the second time, to a woman named Gretchen Vandy, then 24; the couple separated after 14 months. According to a request for support Vandy filed in Cook County during their divorce, Weinberger was already making in excess of a million dollars a year and living a lavish lifestyle—multi-thousand-dollar shopping sprees, frequent vacations, and dinners in restaurants costing upwards of a thousand dollars. One night in early , Weinberger was at a club called Glow in Chicago when he met Michelle Kramer, then She was a student at the University of Chicago, taking a variety of graduate courses. She was also blonde and thin and striking, and both seemed instantly smitten with each other. She had always looked up to doctors—ever since she was 13, growing up on the southwest side of Chicago, when she had been hit by a car, leaving her in a body cast for roughly a year—and she found Mark Weinberger charming and smart and romantic. They became engaged in the spring of The extravaganza took place at the Piazza Navona, in Rome, while the couple was there on vacation. Mark had a special affinity for Italy and would travel there often. On this occasion, he got to the Piazza before Michelle and hired singers to serenade her as she arrived. In a final flourish, with people gathered around to watch, he dropped to one knee and proposed with an enormous ring. But even at this infatuated stage of their relationship Michelle noticed signs that Weinberger had a difficult personality: the way he could be charming one moment and irrational and haughty with others the next, the way he could not deal with the slightest adversity. He changed his mind, but later expressed puzzlement, almost irritation, when Michelle spent as much time as she could with her father while he was in the hospital. The wedding was planned for May of Weinberger had envisioned a grand ceremony in Ravello, Italy, with both a rabbi and a Catholic priest flown in to fit their religious backgrounds. At first Weinberger was adamantly against the shift. In the end, there would be three different wedding celebrations, the one in Ravello transformed into a blessing ceremony. Weinberger flew in roughly 15 guests from the United States and housed them in the Villa Cimbrone, a restored 12th-century residence that has included among its guests Winston Churchill, D. Lawrence, and Greta Garbo. It was again typical of the way Weinberger did things. The third reception, for guests, was at the Field Museum, in Chicago. The couple purchased their condominium in November of Mark eventually had three drivers, and his car was always on call in front of the property. He was extremely particular about his needs. Mark also had particular sexual desires when it came to marriage. He had been obsessed with the fantasy of bedding cheerleaders ever since high school in Scarsdale, back when the real thing was clearly off limits because of his non-jock status, and Michelle would surprise him from time to time by wearing a cheerleading costume when he came home from work. On another occasion, during one of their trips to Italy, he turned to her over dinner and said he was not happy. When Michelle asked him why, he said he was disappointed with the level of enthusiasm that she put forth while performing oral sex on him. He said he had a DVD for her to look at to gain pointers. Shocked and humiliated, she left the restaurant. All he seemed to care about was receiving nightly oral sex from Michelle, and receiving it with gusto. Artful travel books sat atop the tables in the waiting room, instead of creased magazines. There were bookends in the shapes of noses. The software in the computer system was such that even before a patient left the office a bill was already on its way to the insurance company. That would change, especially following the opening of the new clinic, which, at least in hindsight, seems almost to have been designed to facilitate risky medicine. It was a one-stop shop: because Weinberger had his own CAT-scan machine he could read the results himself and avoid the oversight that would have come had he needed to send patients to a hospital for scans. And the fact that there were no other surgeons in the practice meant there were no peers on hand to raise suspicions, which may be why, according to court filings, at least 90 percent of the patients who came to see Weinberger were advised on their very first appointment that they needed some type of sinus-related surgery. Jim Platis, a plastic surgeon, had been friends with Mark since the s. Platis also believed his friend to be a very good surgeon, respected by his peers. Along with his wife, Platis had attended the blessing ceremony in Ravello, in But afterward he began to notice a change in the way Weinberger was spending money, whether it was the foot yacht that trolled the Mediterranean, or the multiple drivers, or the sushi lunches from Chicago. The money was being spent almost carelessly. Newly wed, Mark had indeed treated her like a princess, just as he had promised; their marriage was all Michelle thought it would be, and more, and she adored him. But as her academic career advanced, Mark came to resent it, particularly as problems began to mount in his own work. Instead of supporting her, he made increasing demands, and her self-esteem ebbed. Although she weighed roughly pounds, he gave her grief when, as a self-indulgence every Thanksgiving or Christmas, she went to Godiva and bought a box of truffles. He himself worked out three times a day. Mark did not allow her to have her own checkbook or see the bills. He gave her a thousand dollars a week in spending money, leaving it on the kitchen counter as if she were a prostitute. He did complain they were overspending, and Michelle, still in her 20s then, readily admits that she enjoyed the lavish trappings of wealth and extravagance, particularly the yacht, as probably any spouse would have. But when Mark worried about money, she claims, she told him to get rid of at least the NetJets account and the personal staff that took over the house each day. Instead, during one of their next jaunts in the Mediterranean, they docked at Marbella, where they went to Versace and Weinberger spent tens of thousands of dollars on the latest styles for both of them. Phyllis Barnes was 47 years old and employed helping recently laid-off steelworkers find new jobs when she went to see Weinberger in September of She had had a cough for several months, sometimes spitting up blood, and was now having problems breathing. She was losing weight, because it was hard for her to swallow. She had already been to a physician assistant and a doctor, who thought the problem might be asthma or allergies, but her symptoms persisted. A colleague suggested that she go see Dr. Weinberger, that maybe her problem was sinus-related. When she saw the ear-nose-and-throat surgeon, he diagnosed her problem as exactly that. She had surgery the following month, supposedly to remove excess polyps so that she could breathe more easily. The surgery did not work, and she continued to have enormous difficulty breathing. She went back to see Weinberger, and he told her to relax and give the surgery time to work. But her condition did not improve. She thought she might have pneumonia, and she saw Weinberger once more, but he said he did not treat pneumonia and told her to go to an emergency room. She saw several other doctors: one said she had a virus; another said it was bronchitis and prescribed antibiotics. On December 7, , she went to yet another doctor, named Dennis Han. Like Weinberger, Han was an ear-nose-and-throat surgeon. He immediately saw how sick she was and, based on the sound of her breathing alone, made the correct diagnosis: she did not have sinus problems; she had throat cancer. According to legal documents, Weinberger had not even performed a throat exam on Barnes during her initial visit, but ordered a cat scan of her sinuses only. The reason, her lawyers suggested, is that Weinberger sometimes saw more than patients a day, meaning, given his hours, that he spent an average of three minutes with each of them; he also took on as many as new patients a month. When Dr. Han had seen Barnes in December, three months after her first visit to Dr. Weinberger, the tumor inside her larynx was easily visible upon examination, filings assert. So too, in all likelihood, was the enlargement of the lymph nodes in her neck. She also had two firm masses on the left side of her neck which were consistent with cancer. But when Weinberger had last seen Barnes, only 18 days earlier, he made no notations of any of this. Allen, stated in a filing on behalf of Barnes. After Barnes died of cancer, in , an Indiana medical-review panel consisting of three physicians would find Weinberger negligent in his treatment of her. Barnes filed suit against Weinberger on October 29, , when she was still struggling to survive. In and , according to court records, Indiana state records, and interviews with trial attorneys, he performed hundreds of sinus surgeries that were allegedly medically unnecessary. However, based upon court records and interviews with trial attorneys, instead of the accepted method of enlarging the natural sinus openings to improve drainage, he employed an outdated and substandard procedure in which he drilled holes into the back of the maxillary sinuses, so that mucus drained further back into the sinuses, causing chronic sinusitis that most of his patients never had before they sought his help. In the case of the patient William Boyer, according to court testimony, Weinberger showed him an image of polyps inside his sinus cavity that were bloody, infected, and pus-filled. But, according to court testimony, the picture that Weinberger had shown him had not been of his own sinus cavity. In addition, an EKG taken before surgery had indicated that Boyer had an irregular heartbeat, which should have been an immediate red flag, causing re-evaluation of the surgery. But the defense did not dispute that Weinberger had provided Boyer with substandard care. And there remain hundreds in which review panels—the first step in determining medical malpractice under Indiana law—have yet to make a finding. When she returned, every room of the town house had video cameras and a safe. At the time, she did not believe that he would ever do anything that was not medically warranted. She had become pregnant earlier that spring. The procedure took place at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, in Chicago, on August 20, and there was terrible news: Michelle had had a miscarriage. But when Mark saw the attending physician, with his wife hysterical and sobbing, he showed no emotion, according to Michelle, instead talking shop about the size of his surgical practice. At one point he did shed some tears, but Michelle believed that they were forced. His co-workers at the clinic also noticed changes in Weinberger. He talked little and spent more and more time in the back of the office. He grew snappish with patients, or sometimes did not answer at all when asked a question. Usually clean-cut, he came to work some days with a stubble of beard and occasionally walked around the office not fully dressed. A group of men with thick, possibly European accents came to the clinic one day in the late summer of Employees were confused and fascinated; they had never seen men like this before, although it was later theorized that the men were diamond dealers from New York, many of whom are Hasidic Jews. Boxes began to be delivered, 30 or 40 in total. Staff members did not open them but could tell by the outside labels that they contained camping gear. On September 16, , Phyllis Barnes died. Their yacht, the Corti-Seas, coming from Athens, was supposed to be docked in Mykonos when they arrived. But it was delayed, turning Weinberger into a nervous wreck. Michelle could not understand why he was so upset, until she later learned that he had sent a shipment of survival gear to Athens, to be picked up by the yacht, as well as another shipment to Cannes. The Corti-Seas finally arrived the next day. That night all the members of the group went out to dinner. Michelle told what Weinberger considered an off-color and inappropriate story. He got angry and she got angry. She was also still going through the emotional effects of the miscarriage. But they smoothed things over and went to bed on the yacht. She assumed he had gone for his early-morning jog, just as he usually did in Chicago, along Lake Michigan, taking their dog, Angel. But this morning something did not feel right. She looked for him all over Mykonos. But by nightfall he had not come back. She knew what she had instinctively suspected since she woke up: he had vanished. The next day she got the number of a Greek cell phone he had been using and dialed. The Corti-Seas, which had run up significant dockage fees on Mykonos, was seized by Greek customs officials. To get home to Chicago, Michelle borrowed money from an aunt for a ticket. There was an envelope waiting for her when she arrived. It was from Mark. Distraught, she hoped and prayed there was an explanation inside. She tore the envelope open. It contained only the certification for her engagement ring, presumably so she could sell it to raise some cash. Courmayeur is in the northwestern corner of Italy, where the borders of France, Switzerland, and Italy all meet. It lies at the foot of Mont Blanc; the mountain and nearby peaks, Maudit and the Grandes Jorasses—all dappled in snow even in summer—gleam in the sun like a set of pearly teeth. There are also stores that sell fruit in rainbow hues and hearty wedges of the freshest cheese. This was where Mark Weinberger ended up, some say as early as Because of his love for Italy, the choice of the ski-resort town made sense, particularly considering its remoteness. There were wild rumors that he had previously been to Israel or China, or even Miami, where he supposedly watched the filming of an episode of CSI Miami. But there is no doubt that before he arrived in Courmayeur, he spent time in the South of France. Michelle Kramer, shortly after returning to Chicago, went to the city office that Weinberger maintained separate from the condominium and clinic. She found material that he had shredded, and over the course of three sleepless days and nights she pieced the hundreds of strands together. Using credit-card statements as well, she tracked him to Monaco and then to Cannes and Nice, where he continued to indulge his penchant for fine clothing. But then the trail grew cold. In his medical license was revoked by the state of Indiana, and he was indicted in absentia by a federal grand jury for health-care fraud. In , Michelle was granted a divorce from Weinberger. When Mark Weinberger arrived in Courmayeur he told people he had come from Monte Carlo, and he did appear to be traveling back and forth to someplace else. At the end of he rented a modest two-bedroom apartment in Courmayeur. It was on Via Regionale, No. Above was a small shopping strip—a shoe store, a butcher, and a tiny grocery on the end where Monica Specogna worked. She was attractive and slender, with strikingly handsome features and thick black hair that fell to her shoulders. Then in her late 30s, she had been born in Udine, in northeast Italy, and had studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. For a period she had worked in music, playing bass and heavy-metal guitar and doing the sound mixing for several small albums. It was her life. She met Weinberger in the winter of —8 when he came into her store to buy food. We spoke about music but not about anything else. They decided to go skiing together. Both intrepid, they went off the usual course into the woods, and from that day on skied together as much as they could. Weinberger told her that he had been living in Monte Carlo but had been traveling around Europe on bike. The choice of Courmayeur was by chance—without looking he had supposedly placed his finger on a map of the Alps, and it landed on the ski-resort town. He struck Monica as sincere and honest. But in the end Mark jeopardized her safety, as he had so many others who trusted him. He also read Crime and Punishment. A metamorphosis was taking place inside him, from grandiose spender to grandiose survivalist. In the late spring he and Monica biked the miles from Courmayeur to Grindelwald, Switzerland, at the foot of the famed Mount Eiger. Once in a while he hiked into town to buy food and equipment. At the end of September he came up with the idea of living at relatively high altitude for a year and writing a book about the experience, which he hoped would give him enough money to settle with Monica in Grindelwald and maybe even adopt children. She tried talking him into relocating to a safer site, but he refused. Hikers and mountain climbers saw him doing odd exercises outside the tent, almost a kind of yoga. Mark had stopped paying rent on his apartment. After several months the rental agent got angry and contacted the local office of the Carabinieri, the Italian national police force, in Courmayeur. The Carabinieri checked their database and found an international arrest warrant for Weinberger from Interpol. But they did not know where he was. She also received a phone call that day from a friend who said he had to talk to her. Monica was astonished and confused. That day she accompanied Mark back to the Val Ferret, where he headed off to his tent. When she returned to town, she went online. He could not escape forever, and he should not escape forever. The Val Ferret cuts a long swath in between the mountains. They did not find Weinberger but did spot traces that showed where he had been. In addition, a climber reported having seen a man living in a tent. The next day, using a snowmobile, they located him. The temperature was roughly 4 degrees below zero, and the snow was so high that the tops of pine trees were barely visible. Weinberger was in the vicinity of the Elena Refuge, about 6, feet above sea level and a quarter-mile from the main trail. He had chosen a spot at the base of the Triolet Glacier. Giuseppe Ballistreri, head of the local Carabinieri, asked Weinberger what he was doing there. He was quiet, but did not appear to be nervous. Subsequently, when officers searched the area where he had been taken into custody, they discovered not just one campsite but three. They found cans of food. They found a stove used to melt snow into water. They found changes of clothing. They found various medications, including Viagra. All of it was enough to last somebody for a significant period. At the barracks, Weinberger sat at a long table with the officers and wolfed down a bowl of pasta before anyone else was finished. He posed amiably for a picture. Lieutenant Colonel Guido Di Vita, of the Carabinieri, in charge of the region that includes Courmayeur, asked him again who he was, although Di Vita already knew. He then took out a knife he had concealed and cut himself near his jugular vein, in what some construed as a suicide attempt. His hair, in a picture taken of him while in custody, was no longer free and easy, as it had been in Courmayeur, but short and nubby, making him look like a two-bit thug. He refused my repeated requests for an interview. The plea deal he struck with federal prosecutor Diane Berkowitz was for a four-year sentence, or roughly two months for each count. Michelle Kramer, now doing postdoctoral research in neuropsychology at Johns Hopkins, has had six years to reflect on her ex-husband. She doubts he feels the slightest remorse over what he has done, nor does she believe he truly thinks he is guilty of anything. As part of his plea agreement, any profits from a film or book must go toward restitution. But Michelle knows Mark and she can picture him sitting in jail figuring out a way around the restriction so that he can tell the world his life story. Archive VF Shop Magazine. Save this story Save. He has done it. Most Popular. By Hadley Hall Meares. The Best Movies of , So Far. By Richard Lawson. By Mark McKinnon. He was the middle child, with a birth date of May 22, , and the family had a unique claim to fame: What do you think I am, chopped liver? He shouted it on a billboard. Buzz Bissinger. White supremacists and right-wing extremists are doing time for increasingly serious crimes. And prison is breeding more of them. By Ali Winston. Works by Pissarro, Renoir, and Avercamp Vanished. For 43 years, police were stumped—until the dashing, enigmatic Clifford Schorer III went searching for clues online. By Adam Leith Gollner. By Eve Batey. Previewing his forthcoming book, the designer talks to VF about moving to the US, the promise of Kamala Harris, and the power of fashion. By Keziah Weir. As the high school cult classic gets a 30th-anniversary theatrical release, writer-director Richard Linklater reflects on its agonizing for him creation—and its eternal, chemically compatible appeal. By Mike Hogan. By Molly Jong-Fast. By Caroline Rose Giuliani. An early look at the new photo memoir Lost Time and its scenes of a glittering jet set. By David Friend. By Kase Wickman. Bad news: He suggested we do The Purge instead. By Savannah Walsh. By Tara Ariano.

COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS TO HOLD THIRTY-NINTH SESSION IN VIENNA, 16-25 APRIL

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VIENNA, 15 April -- The illicit manufacture, traffic and abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants could well constitute the key drug-related problem of the future, according to one of several reports to be discussed by the United Nations principal policy-making body on drug control -- the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, during its forthcoming session which begins here tomorrow, 16 April, and ends on 25 April. The report points to recent evidence that particularly the availability, price, consumer preference and reduced risk of interdiction may give synthetic drugs the potential to become a global problem of a magnitude greater than that posed by the plant-based narcotics. The Commission, which will examine areas of progress and weakness in the implementation of existing drug control measures, has been called upon by the General Assembly to recommend appropriate adjustments of drug control activities where required. Among the specific questions on which the Commission may wish to make recommendations are strengthening cooperation on alternative development as a means of eliminating illicit drug trafficking, harmonizing national laws and regulations, implementing all provisions of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, promoting the training of drug control personnel and encouraging the involvement of non-governmental organizations and the private sector in drug abuse prevention efforts. Other issues which the Commission has been asked to consider are how to strengthen the fight against international criminal drug organizations, penalties to apply for drug trafficking-related offences such as money laundering and illegal arms trade, how to enforce controls of precursors and. The member Commission, which oversees the work of the UNDCP, will review during its forthcoming session an assessment of the status of international cooperation in drug control, which has been proposed by the Economic and Social Council as the theme for its high-level segment this year. In connection with the issue, the Commission will have before it a report by the Executive Director in which he further elaborates and refines recommendations submitted last year, on the basis of additional information from governments. The Commission has also been asked to give priority consideration on whether to convene an international conference on the question, taking into account international drug control priorities and resources, the financial and other implications of holding such a conference and ways and means to increase the implementation of existing international conventions and other instruments for cooperation on drug control. As it began to do last session, the Commission will again consider matters relating to demand reduction as a separate agenda item, under which it will discuss basic principles of drug abuse prevention and experience gained from a series of regional expert forums on demand reduction. It will also look at the world drug abuse situation. Reports on those subjects will be available along with a report on the UNDCP strategy for demand reduction and on a draft declaration on the guiding principles of demand reduction. In connection with drug traffic and supply, the Secretariat has prepared a report on the world-wide situation with regard to illicit drug trafficking and a note on the activities of the Commission's subsidiary bodies. According to one report before the Commission under this question, the global interdiction rate for cocaine is now significantly above that for heroin, reversing the pattern of the early s -- a development almost certainly due to greater law enforcement efforts. The report cautions, however, that the mechanisms of the illicit market are such that the impact upon the amount of cocaine reaching consumers is less significant. The General Assembly in adopted a resolution renewing its commitment to strengthening cooperation against the global drug problem, in which it called upon the Commission, with the support of the UNDCP and the cooperation of the International Narcotics Control Board INCB , to monitor and evaluate action on the national and international levels to implement. In that connection, the Executive Director convened two sessions of an ad hoc advisory group at Vienna in and submitted his recommendations to the Commission last year. In addition to the mandate given to it by the Commission, the advisory group commented on three additional issues: money laundering, the debate concerning the possible legalization of the non-medical use of drugs and a proposal to hold a second international conference on drug abuse and illicit trafficking. Among the proposals addressed concerned the functioning of the international drug control treaties, whether to hold a second international conference on drug abuse and illicit trafficking, implications of decriminalization and harm reduction policies, and funding of UNDCP activities. The UNDCP was created by the Assembly in to coordinate all United Nations drug control activities and providing effective leadership in international drug control. As one of its main topics of discussion, the Commission will review the work of the UNDCP in , on the basis of a report by the Executive Director of the Programme and other background documents. It states that the Programme has sought, through a balanced approach targeting both illicit traffic and demand, directly to support government efforts to combat the drugs problem, with emphasis on assisting countries in drawing up and carrying out national drug-control master plans and to strengthening the national institutions involved. The report states that by implementing a package of targeted technical cooperation programmes last year, the Programme promoted close cooperation between governments at the subregional level, particularly in order to counter cross-border trafficking. Subregional cooperation was one of the successful strategic initiatives. The long-term financial situation of the Programme remains, however, a matter of concern, according to the report. With the coming depletion of the fund and a decline in general-purpose funds -- which support the Programme's core activities -- the UNDCP is concerned that, unless current trends are reversed, it will not have sufficient resources to cover the basic needs of headquarters and the infrastructure costs for its field operations. Another concern is the apparent imbalance between the Programme's mandates and the resources available to implement them. Contrary to a growing spirit of collective responsibility for international drug control, some States remain, exclusively, recipients of UNDCP cooperation, while a handful of others bear the brunt of the financial burden. In order for the Commission to fulfil its mandate as governing body of the UNDCP, it should explore ways of encouraging States and other partners to consider themselves 'shareholders' in the Programme. The report recommends that increased consideration should be given to the idea of assessed contributions, even if based on the short-term commitment of as many countries as possible. In light of requests for innovative fund-raising approaches, the UNDCP last year worked to mobilize consortia to secure longer-range commitment of donors to specific programmes or thematic areas and continued to encourage countries receiving technical assistance to assume an increasing share of the financial burden. In connection with amphetamine-type stimulants, the Commission has before it a report which outlines the actions undertaken thus far by the UNDCP -- which was last year asked by the Economic and Social Council to convene expert meetings of regulatory and law enforcement authorities of interested governments in order to discuss how to combat illicit manufacture of such stimulants and the illicit use of their precursors. The report outlines the findings of a study which had been prepared by the UNDCP in consultation with the INCB for the first of the expert meetings -- held in February in Vienna -- at which 52 experts from some 26 countries and four organizations sought to identify the scope, nature and magnitude of the global stimulants problem. A second meeting, to be held later this year, will seek to recommend the necessary corrective responses. The study cited in the report examines the licit use of amphetamine-type stimulants as well as the developments that have led to their spread into the illicit market. One of the principal findings of the global review, confirmed in the expert report, is that the control system works well on the licit side of the picture, but on the illicit side it is far more limited, considering that the growth rate of the amphetamine-type stimulants over the past five years has surpassed the rates for cocaine and heroin. Such stimulants, the report states, provide the best historical evidence of the 'balloon effect'. In the case of plant-based narcotics, the cultivation and processing operations move from one geographical location to another to escape law enforcement. With synthetic drugs, restricting the licit supply in a market with constant demand merely leads to a shifting from licit to illicit manufacture, initially within the same country. Among the salient points which emerged at the February meeting is that in those countries being drawn into the global market, the principal limitation is a continuing emphasis on fighting plant-based narcotic drugs. While perfectly valid, that approach leaves little attention being given to synthetic drugs. The report stresses that more common ground has to be found in terms of both national compliance with existing regulations and the cooperation of industry. The Commission has before it a detailed report on illicit crops from which drugs are extracted and appropriate strategies for their reduction, which examines national and global eradication efforts and their impact on illicit cultivation. It also looks at the distinction between alternative development, on the one hand, and both crop substitution and more general economic development efforts on the other. The report states that over the last two decades, alternative development work in 11 countries by the UNDCP and its predecessors has led to an accumulation of relevant experience which is suitable for review. It outlines trends in hectarage of global illicit cultivation as well as strategies to reduce it. Also provided are a number of figures and tables, including a table of eradication estimates for 14 countries in and The last two decades have seen significant progress in developing an understanding of the dynamics of illicit crop cultivation and related drug control strategies, the report states. Experience has shown that some programmes have been effective in encouraging the growth of licit agricultural and other economic activities, while reducing the level of illicit cultivation in targeted areas. In discussing the question of demand reduction, the Commission will have five reports. One, concerning the state of knowledge in 'primary' and 'secondary' prevention, reviews the evidence available regarding those approaches to drug abuse prevention. Primary prevention includes public awareness campaigns, perinatal and pre-school interventions, in-school education, youth programmes and drug testing. Secondary prevention consists of reducing drug abuse through different forms of treatment and rehabilitation. The report states that evidence suggests that the efficacy of primary prevention is increasingly being called into question, while secondary prevention seems to be able to reduce demand, and result in abstinence, under some conditions. Although they have a high relapse rate, secondary prevention strategies have been shown by some studies to be cost-effective. A second report presents an overview of the experience gained from a series of UNDCP-organized regional expert forums on demand reduction. They provided an overview of the drug situation in the several subregions, as well as of existing demand reduction programmes and of the resources needed to carry them out. Emphasis was placed on the lack of reliable data on the nature and extent of drug abuse and on various drug abuse programmes. It was felt that treatment services should be designed for, and made more accessible to, persons in need of such services. The increasing social problems in all regions made the targeting of at-risk groups an important issue of any demand reduction programme. A further report provides data on the world drug abuse situation, including a number of graphs and tables. Most of the drug-related concerns emerging from the reports involve an almost continuous rise in drug abuse, its effect on prison and criminal justice systems, the spread of human immunodeficiency virus HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS as a result of abusing drugs by injection and the enormous human and financial costs resulting from drug abuse and the treatment of drug abusers. One growing problem in a number of countries is that the volume of people arrested. Another problem is the extent to which drugs are being abused inside prisons. The UNDCP's strategy for drug demand reduction is spelled out in another report of the Executive Director, who has identified three main objectives in that regard: to provide governments with relevant information for use in formulating drug-control policy; to identify effective methodologies and programmes for demand reduction in different socio-economic and cultural contexts; and to increase the effectiveness of measures undertaken at the national level. Implementation strategies are described for each objective. Also before the Commission will be a note containing a compilation of comments and proposals from governments and organizations for use in formulating a draft declaration on the 'guiding principles of reduction of illicit demand for drugs'. On the subject of illicit drug trafficking, the Commission has before it a report covering recent global trends in that area, in addition to a note on the work of the Commission's subsidiary bodies over the past year. The report on illicit trafficking outlines global trends in illicit drug trafficking from to , illustrated with a number of graphs. It notes that the dynamics of trafficking are such that even a one-third seizure rate does not cause a proportional reduction in consumption. Further investigation of issues relating to the interception of illicit drugs and the role it plays in reducing consumption and other drug-related problems may assist the Commission in its efforts to monitor adherence to the relevant provisions of the drug control treaties. The latter also covered Canada and the United States. The meetings took place in Kampala, Jakarta and Havana, respectively. In view of measures necessitated by the financial crisis of the United Nations, the meeting of the Subcommission on Illicit Drug Traffic and Related Matters in the Near and Middle East was postponed from 18 to 22 November to 9 to 13 March The Commission will review the implementation of the key international drug control treaties: the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, amended. This year's INCB Report notes 'enormous difficulties' faced by a number of countries in combating illicit drug abuse and trafficking. Among the problems highlighted in the Report are weaknesses in recently enacted anti-money laundering laws in some countries, continued large-scale cultivation of cannabis in several regions, the spread of cocaine abuse to west Africa and eastern Europe, increasing drug-related violence in previously less affected Caribbean countries and drug abuse due to the large-scale prescribing of attention deficit disorder remedies in the United States. Numerous examples of how global economic integration, opening borders and deregulation of trade are facilitating international drug trafficking are included. Also before the Commission is a report of the INCB on action taken by States to prevent the diversion of precursor chemicals from licit to illicit channels. Article 12 of the Convention recommends a wide range of actions States parties might take to strengthen controls of chemicals used in the manufacture of illicit drugs. The Board has recommended that exporting countries take steps to identify and investigate suspicious shipments and that importing countries provide feedback on specific cases so that the shipments in question can be stopped or seized. It has also called for further regulation of manufacture and domestic distribution in a number of countries in order to prevent internal diversion of chemicals, which are often subsequently smuggled to neighbouring countries where illicit manufacture of drugs takes place. The Commission is also scheduled to review action taken by the UNDCP to help States implement the recommendations of the working group on maritime cooperation which met in Vienna in to identify barriers to cooperation in the interdiction of drug traffic by sea and to recommend suitable remedies. Before the Commission in that regard is a report covering the recommendations of an expert group convened by the UNDCP from 27 to 29 February to advise on training and other forms of technical cooperation to improve governments' ability to carry out the relevant provisions of the Convention. Article 17 of the Convention provides for cooperation among States parties in identifying, boarding and searching suspicious ships, as well as in conducting whatever arrests and seizures might be called for. Annexed to the report is a proposed training curriculum for maritime drug law enforcement that would cover policy, strategy and law; training for managers in the development and execution of a coherent enforcement strategy; and applicable laws and agreements, including the law of the sea, the Convention and national laws. Welcome to the United Nations. Meetings Coverage and Press Releases. Press Release. Other issues which the Commission has been asked to consider are how to strengthen the fight against international criminal drug organizations, penalties to apply for drug trafficking-related offences such as money laundering and illegal arms trade, how to enforce controls of precursors and essential chemicals used in making illicit drugs, how to strengthen cooperation to eradicate the growing and dangerous links between terrorist groups, drug traffickers and their paramilitary gangs and ways to reinforce preventive strategies. Stimulant Study In connection with amphetamine-type stimulants, the Commission has before it a report which outlines the actions undertaken thus far by the UNDCP -- which was last year asked by the Economic and Social Council to convene expert meetings of regulatory and law enforcement authorities of interested governments in order to discuss how to combat illicit manufacture of such stimulants and the illicit use of their precursors. Crop Reduction The Commission has before it a detailed report on illicit crops from which drugs are extracted and appropriate strategies for their reduction, which examines national and global eradication efforts and their impact on illicit cultivation. Demand Reduction In discussing the question of demand reduction, the Commission will have five reports. Illicit Drug Trafficking On the subject of illicit drug trafficking, the Commission has before it a report covering recent global trends in that area, in addition to a note on the work of the Commission's subsidiary bodies over the past year. Precursors Also before the Commission is a report of the INCB on action taken by States to prevent the diversion of precursor chemicals from licit to illicit channels. Maritime Cooperation The Commission is also scheduled to review action taken by the UNDCP to help States implement the recommendations of the working group on maritime cooperation which met in Vienna in to identify barriers to cooperation in the interdiction of drug traffic by sea and to recommend suitable remedies. For information media. Not an official record.

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