The Andean Community Member Countries have committed themselves to take the necessary measures to come to grips with the world drug problem, bearing in mind the principles of shared responsibility, non-conditionality, and prioritization of alternative development, which require the comprehensive and balanced management of both the control of the supply and the reduction of the demand.

In that context, the Member Countries have reiterated their commitment to coordinate closely, particularly in regard to the need for multilateral harmonization and evaluation of the policies for confronting that scourge.

The Andean countries, aware of the serious threat to the health and well-being of humanity posed by the production, trafficking in and consumption of psychoactive substances, supported the preparation, in the United Nations, of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, known as the 1988 Vienna Convention, which establishes the legal frame of reference for countries whose cultural, economic and social foundations are being eroded by this scourge.

In this context, the Member Countries have shown evidence of their acceptance of and participation in the establishment of a global surveillance system of coca, poppy, and marijuana crops, including indoor crops. In this connection, they are taking the necessary steps to start up national mechanisms to check crop-growing areas, as the basis for the development of an international network for the control of those areas and the creation of a worldwide data base under the administration of the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP).

The Andean Community’s drug strategy with the European Union is conducted within the framework of the agreements of both the “European Union – Andean Community High-Level Specialized Dialogue on Drugs” and the “Joint Follow-up Group on Chemical Precursor Agreements between the Andean Countries and the European Community.” In this sphere, it is worth stressing the regularity with which the annual dialogues are conducted at the highest political level, making it possible to enhance biregional cooperation on drugs, and the application of the Chemical Precursor Control Agreement between the Andean Community and the European Union.

At the hemispheric level, the Andean countries also support the efforts being made within the aegis of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) of the Organization of American States, particularly the implementation of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism. This instrument is intended to become a single and objective governmental evaluation process of a multilateral nature to follow-up on the individual and collective efforts of the participant countries in the Summit of the Americas to deal with the array of illegal drug problems. .

In recognition of their determined efforts to control this worldwide scourge, the United States of America unilaterally established a temporary trade preference system for Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, while the European Union granted similar treatment to all of the Member Countries. The Andean countries are currently striving to convert these systems into predictable and stable mechanisms that will promote more investment and employment. For further information, see Common Foreign Policy; United States, from the ATPA to the ATPDEA; and European Union, Access to the sole European market: from the Drug-related GSP to the GSP “Plus.”.

The immediate legal bases for the Plan can be found in article 16 of the Cartagena Agreement, Decision 458 "Common Foreign Policy Guidelines” and the Presidential guidelines adopted at the Andean Council of Presidents in Cartagena on April 17, 2001.

The Andean Community Member Countries, as they have proclaimed in several international forums, consider that illegal drug production, trafficking and consumption, asset laundering, diversion and smuggling of chemical precursors, and arms trafficking seriously undermine their development and security.

As a result, they decided to put the “Andean Cooperation Plan for the Control of Illegal Drugs and Related Offenses” into effect on June 22, 2001, through the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers’ adoption of Decision 505.

The Plan addresses the illegal drug problem comprehensively by covering all of the aspects involved in drug production, trafficking, and consumption and related offenses. It is based on the principles of shared responsibility, solidarity, full respect for the legislation, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the participating countries, and strict compliance with International Law. It acknowledges, furthermore, that the efforts being currently made by the Andean countries through their respective national programs for the control of illegal drugs and related offenses, can be strongly boosted and complemented through joint action.

The Plan defines as mechanisms for its implementation, the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers (which will follow up the Plan and approve the biannual Action Programs); the Executive Committee (made up of senior officials of the Foreign Ministries and of specialized national agencies, whose role will be to draw up the Operating Plans). The Andean Committee of Alternative Development Authorities and the Andean Community General Secretariat will also participate in the Plan’s implementation.

The Plan contains, as well, an Action Program to reinforce national and binational strategies, and for the development of a Community strategy. The Action Program, in keeping with the issues covered by the 1988 Vienna Convention, is organized to address the control of chemical precursor production, smuggling and diversion; the technical eradication of illicit crops; alternative development; the dismantling of the production and transportation infrastructure and organizations; asset laundering and the reduction of the demand.

The Community strategy incorporates measures that can be taken more efficiently jointly than individually, in such areas as: the exchange of information about interdiction operations and types of trafficking; the broadening of coordination among the responsible authorities; the training of national officials responsible for antidrug efforts; the signing of legal assistance agreements on criminal matters; the exchange of experiences with alternative development programs; the reinforcement of cooperation for the prevention and control of asset laundering; the prevention of synthetic and designer drug consumption and production and the control of their trafficking; the obtaining of international technical and financial cooperation to support the actions provided for in this Plan; the negotiation of the renewal and expansion of the trade preference programs that support illegal drug control; and the tapping of international cooperation for programs to prevent and alleviate the environmental impact, among other actions.

In this context, the Sixteenth Meeting of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers, in enlarged session with the Titular Representatives of the Andean Community Commission adopted Decision 602 “Andean Regulation for the Control of Chemical Substances used in the Illegal Manufacture of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances,” in December 2004, in Cusco, Peru. The purpose of this legal instrument is to protect and shield the Andean Community’s customs territory from the diversion of imports or exports of certain chemical substances for the illegal production of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, particularly cocaine and heroin.

In addition, the Fifteenth Meeting of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers, on July 15, 2004, adopted Decision 614 “Andean Integral and Sustainable Alternative Development Strategy” to contribute, with an integral and sustainable approach, to poverty reduction and social cohesion in the Member Countries, in the areas of intervention defined in the Strategy, through the establishment of policy guidelines, conceptual approaches, and targets or indicators to orient the alternative development actions and projects that are launched as part of national and Community policies on the subject. For further information on the subject, consult the web page of the Sistema de Información de Desarrollo Alternativo para la Región Andina/Information System on Alternative Development for the Andean Region (SIDARA).