FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Rafael Lemaitre/Bob Weiner 202-395-6649
Wednesday, January 31, 2001
OAS NATIONS RELEASE NATIONAL REPORTS ON MULTILATERAL EVALUATION MECHANISM;
WHITE HOUSE DRUG POLICY OFFICE:"REPORTS SHOW MULTILATERAL COOPERATION WILL SUPERCEDE BINATIONAL CONFRONTATIONS"
(Washington, DC)—Edward H. Jurith, Acting Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, commended the Organization of American States (OAS) on the release of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) reports: "These are the first-ever set of national reports on anti-drug efforts undertaken by each member country in the hemisphere," stated Jurith. The Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) is releasing the 34 nation's reports and an overall hemispheric report to the media at a news conference on Thursday, February 1 at the OAS, 17th St. & Connecticut Ave. NW.
Last December, CICAD reviewed the national reports on anti-drug efforts undertaken by each member country in the hemisphere. The reports describe the counter-drug activities of each country in terms of performance indicators that encompass nearly all elements relevant to national level counter-drug action.
Acting Director Jurith continued, "It will become increasingly apparent to policy people in the hemisphere that our national interests are better served by this evaluation mechanism than by a system based on confrontation. The new multilateral evaluation mechanism allows the nations of our hemisphere to address our shared drug challenges through cooperative efforts, dialogue, and shared expertise."
The Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism is a hemispheric system of counter-drug performance measurement. The MEM was inaugurated during the twenty-sixth regular session of CICAD in Montevideo, Uruguay (October 5-8), 1999, after 18 months of negotiation. In early 2000 OAS/CICAD launched the first evaluation round.
