of the Eighth Round of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism
The Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD, by its Spanish-language acronym) of the Organization of American States (OAS) releases today the national comprehensive evaluation reports of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) 2024 on all thematic areas of the Hemispheric Plan of Action on Drugs (POA) 2021-2025.
The reports can be found here:
• Comprehensive Evaluation (2024)
• Demand Reduction (2021)
• Supply Reduction (2022)
The 32 national reports were approved at CICAD's seventy-sixth regular session, held November 19-22, 2024, under the Chair of Antigua and Barbuda, and Vice Chair of Brazil.
The reports evaluate drug-related actions, such as:
• Formulation and updating of national drug policies and strategies
• Adoption of alternative measures to incarceration for minor or non-violent drug-related offenses
• Promotion of proportional legal sentencing for minor drug-related offenses, in accordance with domestic law
• Establishment and update of comprehensive and integrated drug demand reduction policies with a public health focus, that are evidence-based, multidisciplinary, multisectoral, and respectful of human rights
• Establishment and strengthening of national observatories on drugs and national drug information
systems
• Strengthening of national measures, including early warning systems, to address the challenges posed by new psychoactive substances and illicit synthetic drugs, and the threat of fentanyl-related substances, non-medical synthetic opioids, and illicit amphetamine derivatives
• Development of legal and institutional frameworks for the effective monitoring and control of essential chemical substances and precursors to prevent their diversion for illicit means
• Strengthening of international cooperation, as defined in the international legal instruments related to the world drug problem
The MEM, mandated by the 1998 Summit of the Americas, is a peer review process that measures the progress of actions taken by OAS member states to address the problem of drugs and related crimes. The MEM process, managed by OAS/CICAD, evaluates member states' adherence to the POA 2021-2025. This year marks 25 years since the MEM process became operational in 1999, with more than 1,000 evaluation reports having been published and disseminated internationally during that time period.
As the only multilateral evaluation of its kind in the world, the MEM's national reports highlight the strengths and challenges in the formulation and implementation of OAS member states' drug policies, encouraging national dialogue among policymakers. The eighth round consisted of three annual evaluations covering the following POA thematic areas: Measures of Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Support, in 2021; Measures to Control and Counter the Illicit Cultivation, Production, Trafficking, and Distribution of Drugs, and to Address their Causes and Consequences, in 2022; and Institutional Strengthening/Research, Information, Monitoring, and Evaluation/International Cooperation, in 2023. In 2024, the MEM carried out a comprehensive evaluation to update the information presented in the first three years. Finally, the MEM publishes annual hemispheric briefs that are informative papers focusing on trends and collective progress as well as areas requiring increased efforts to effectively address the various manifestations of the drug problem in the Hemisphere.
All information related to the MEM and its reports can be accessed here
Reference: E-101/24
