China urges to firmly oppose legalisation of narcotic drugs

The world must firmly oppose all forms of legalization of narcotic drugs, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN said on Thursday.

At a UN General Assembly (GA) debate on world drug problem, Wang Min said the international community must fully recognize the severely harmful effects of drugs on human physical and mental health.

"In recent years, there have been voices calling for the legalization of narcotic drugs and raising doubts about the three UN Conventions on drug control and other existing international drug control mechanisms," said Wang.

"This is not conducive to the healthy development of international drug control," he added.

The three UN Conventions on drug control are Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol, Convention on Phychotropic Substances of 1971, United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Phychotropic Substances of 1988.

The three major international drug control treaties are mutually supportive and complementary. The first two are made to codify internationally applicable control measures in order to ensure the availability of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes, and to prevent their diversion into illicit channels.

Wang said the world must uphold the authority of the existing drug control system and continue to recognize the three conventions and the 2009 political declaration and plan of action as fundamental guidelines.

UN member states in 2009 adopted the political declaration to counter the world drug problem, vowing to actively promote a society free of drug abuse.

"China is an active partner in international drug control cooperation," said Wang, adding, "We stand ready to work with all sides, participate in a constructive spirit in the preparatory process, and make vigorous contributions to the success of the 2016 UNGA Special Session on drug control."

Today's high-level debate is one of the preparatory events leading up to the UNGA Special Session on the world drug problem in 2016, aiming to give practical advice on practices in dealing with the issue.