CHARTING WHO - GOALS FOR LICIT AND ILLICIT DRUGS FOR THE YEAR 2000 - ARE WE ON TRACK

Both on a global and a regional basis, the World Health Organization ( WHO) has set prominent goals for the nun of the millennium on the redu ction of harms associated with licit and illicit drugs. Gauging what t he world and its different regions are doing with respect to these spe cific public health goals is hindered by a conceptual problem: there i s no clear concept and consistent way of defining or measuring 'harm' related to drugs, licit or illicit. In many instances, 'harm' is equat ed with substance use prevalence. Often, especially outside the develo ped world, basic harm data is not even available. Globally, a conceptu ally clear and consistently applied scheme of harm measurement related to licit and illicit drugs is needed, acknowledging the fact that dru g-related harms occur at different individual and social levels as wel l as over different periods of time. Harms must also be recognized as an outcome of interactions between the substance user, the drug itself , and the physical and social environment. Looking at available macro- indicators of harm, it must be concluded with, we do not seem to be 'o n track' globally in reducing harms related to drugs in accordance wit h the WHO goals. For alcohol and tobacco, trends for increased harm ar e just starting to show in the developing world, and will worsen over the next couple of decades. For illicit drugs, failing drug control po licies have result in dramatically negative developments for public he alth, especially with respect to HIV infections and drug-related death s, in the developed as well as developing world.