PNG invited to sign treaty on drug control

Papua New Guinea has been invited by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) at a recently concluded meeting in Australia to sign the 1988 Convention on International Drug Control Treaty.
Recently reinstated education, training and public relations director of the National Narcotics Bureau, Felix Handa’an Oltomo said that the INCB board member representing the Oceania region, Prof Richard Mattick, invited the Government of Papua New Guinea among other pacific nations to sign the treaty at the UN headquarters in Vienna.
“The Government of PNG has signed the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs which established the INCB and the 1972 Protocol and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, however, the 1988 Convention against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is yet to be signed,” Oltomo said.
“The main objectives of the drug control frameworks discussed to be addressed in Oceania and PNG as a transit point are in preventing the illicit production, cultivation, manufacturing and trade in controlled substances as well as their abuse.”
Oltomo said that the treaty was for ensuring the adequate availability of controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes and providing a system of control for the international movement of controlled substances for illicit purposes.
“Furthermore, it will provide the legal basis for international cooperation such as mutual legal assistance, extradition and the exchange of information among national law enforcement agencies,” he said.