VIENNA -– The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Monday (June 4) held an anti-drug conference in Vienna, the OSCE said in a statement.
The OSCE-wide "Evolving Threat of Synthetic Drugs: from Addiction to Rehabilitation and Reintegration" conference convened 160 experts and practitioners from OSCE participating states and co-operation partners.
Ambassador-at-Large and Special Envoy of Kazakhstan for Afghanistan Stanislav Vassilenko highlighted his country's recent counter-narcotic efforts, which reduced the number of drug addicts in Kazakhstan by more than 40% in the past five years.
"Kazakhstan stands ready to share its best practices with OSCE participating States," he said.
Synthetic drugs are overtaking traditional plant-derived drugs on the markets, warned Ambassador Róbert Kirnág, head of the Task Force for the Slovak 2019 OSCE Chairmanship.
Fighting illegal drugs is instrumental to defeating terrorism and organised crime; most of the Afghan Taliban's revenues, for instance, come from the production and sale of drugs.
