Progress in Ensuring Adequate Access to Internationally Controlled Substances for Medical and Scientific Purposes
It is a standard practice of INCB to follow up periodically with countries on the implementation of specific recommendations that it has made; it also monitors the implementation of the general recommendations that it makes in its reports. Early in 2018, the Board sent questionnaires to competent national authorities asking for information on the implementation of the recommendations made in the supplement to its annual report for 2015 and on the implementation of the recommendations contained in the outcome document of the special session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem held in 2016, some of which were based on those contained in the supplement to the INCB report. In total, competent national authorities from 130 countries (representing 78 per cent of the world population) responded, providing important information that is discussed in the present report.
This report also contains an update on the availability of internationally controlled substances, with a focus on opioid analgesics and the psychotropic substances contained in the World Health Organization (WHO) Model List of Essential Medicines3 (diazepam, lorazepam, midazolam and phenobarbital).