National Amphetamine-Type Stimulant Strategy Background Paper

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Chapter 6: Law Enforcement
Australia is a signatory to three United Nations major international drug control treaties,
their crime conventions and related resolutions, which are mutually supportive and
complementary. As stated in the World Drug Report (United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime, 2007), an important purpose of the first two treaties is 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. They also include general provisions on illicit trafficking and drug abuse.
The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 aims to combat drug abuse by coordinated
international action. There are two forms of intervention and control that work together. First,
it seeks to limit the possession, use, trade, distribution, import, export, manufacture and
production of drugs exclusively to medical and scientific purposes. Second, it combats drug
trafficking through international cooperation to deter and discourage drug traffickers.
The Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971 establishes an international control
system for psychotropic substances. It responded to the diversification and expansion of
the spectrum of drugs of abuse and introduced controls over a number of synthetic drugs
according to their abuse potential on the one hand and their therapeutic value on the other.
The Convention against the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances,
1988 provides comprehensive measures against drug trafficking, including provisions
against money laundering and the diversion of precursor chemicals. It provides for
international cooperation through, for example, extradition of drug traffickers, controlled
deliveries and transfer of proceedings.
6.1 International markets
The UNODC reported that after years of substantial increases in the 1990s, the markets for
amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) seem to be stabilising, reflecting improved international
law enforcement cooperation and precursor control. The quantities of precursors and
the number of illicit laboratories seized increased in accordance with intensification of
enforcement efforts. However, end-product seizures declined and the number of ATS users
remained roughly stable.
In discussing trends in world drug markets, the World Drug Report (United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, 2007) noted that methamphetamine manufacture and trafficking
has spread beyond the traditional markets of Asia and North America (e.g., to South
Africa), though remains limited in Europe. An even stronger geographical spread has been
observed with regard to MDMA production and trafficking. While there seem to have been
some declines in the ‘traditional’ manufacturing locations of Western Europe (notably the
Netherlands), MDMA production is spreading to other parts of the world, including North
America, Oceania and South-East Asia.
Crystal methamphetamine is the most likely form of methamphetamine to be imported into
Australia, with large shipments of crystal methamphetamine first detected at the Australian