Prevention and control of chemical precursors' diversion
In November 2019, the third edition of the COPOLAD II Annual Precursors Week was held in Lisbon (Portugal). The work focused on the challenges posed by synthetic drug precursors and the new psychoactive substances (NPS). It had the valuable and active participation of 83 experts from Anti-Narcotics Police, Specialized Prosecutor's Offices, Customs Services, and representatives of several relevant organizations in this area such as the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD-OEA), the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors (AIAMP), the Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD) and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) of the European Commission, the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), EUROJUST, EUROPOL, as well as experts from other cooperation funded by the EU such as CRIMJUST (Strengthening criminal investigation and criminal justice cooperation along the cocaine route in Latin America, the Caribbean and West Africa).
The meeting was led by the Intelligence Centre Against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO) of Spain, together with the Portuguese institutions: General-Directorate for Intervention on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (SICAD), Tax and Customs Authority and Judicial Police of Portugal. As in previous years, a dynamic working methodology included plenary sessions and two field visits, to the forensic laboratory of the Judicial Police and to the pharmaceutical company Sofarimex, recalling the importance of the collaboration between public institutions responsible for precursors’ control and the private sector.
During the meeting in Lisbon, the two COPOLAD working groups (WG) dealing with precursors control were sharing their progress with all the CELAC and the EU participating countries. Each WG had also specific meetings to review the developments achieved and to define the next steps to follow according to their working schedule. The WG will meet again in February 2019 in Brussels (Belgium).
- Working Group 1 on Adaptation and translation of protocols and guides for the control of precursors; working language is Spanish and has 9 member countries: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
- Working Group 2 on legislation in the area of precursor control; working language is English and has 5 member countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Alternative Development (AD)
COPOLAD was invited to participate at the CICAD Working Group on AD organized in the centre of the AECID in Cartagena de Indias (October 8-10, 2018). It was the CICAD's Third Meeting of the Experts Work Group on Comprehensive and Sustainable Alternative Development. On this occasion, COPOLAD participated by sharing its lines of work and actions carried out in the field of Alternative Development, which has active participation of the countries of the region since 2011.
More information on the activities developed by COPOLAD in the field of AD, here.