Int’l drug policy conference kicks off today in Macau

Augusto Nogueira

The 27th IFNGO World Conference – International Drug Policy Consortium will be held at Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel from today until Wednesday, inviting international representatives to discuss drug prevention, treatment, addiction, harm reduction, and general drug policy.

Organized by the International Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations for the Prevention of Drug and Substance Abuse, the conference invites distinguished drug specialists, policymakers and law enforcement officials to discuss how drug abuse is being tackled across the world.

Augusto Nogueira, president of the Association of Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers of Macau (ARTM) and a member of the MSAR Government’s Narcotics Control Commission, is this year’s president-elect of the IFNGO and will chair the conference.

He told the Times yesterday that a range of issues will be explored by participants at the three-day event, including law enforcement approaches and the balance between treatment and incarceration as a means of deterring and resolving drug abuse.

“We will discuss these issues from an international perspective,” he said. “We will have Portuguese [drug policy] specialists and law enforcement [representatives]. At the end of the conference we will [submit] a recommendation to the United Nations [based on our findings].”

Asked whether Nogueira believes world authorities have struck the right balance between treatment and punishment, the IFNGO president-elect said: “Not at all; many people still go for punishment over treatment.”

In this respect, Portugal’s decriminalization approach to combatting drug abuse is a topic of interest to the conference, not least because the policy’s architect, Joao Goulao, will be present as a keynote speaker.

However, Nogueira warned that the decriminalization approach might not work for every country.

“Every country is different,” he told the Times. “Just because Portugal has had success with decriminalization doesn’t mean it will work worldwide. It is up to each country to choose what is best for it.” DB