Forfeiture of the profits and proceeds of drug crimes.

Drug trafficking is controlled by well-organized international criminal syndicates, whose only motives for becoming involved are to make profits and secure influence, which in turn help perpetuate illicit drug distribution networks. For example, one producer of illicit opium receives approximately $Can 650 for 10 kilograms of opium, from which one kilogram of heroin is produced and sold to end-users for up to $Can 12 million. The risks involved for those at the highest level of international criminal syndicates is extremely low since they are financiers who may never come in direct contact with illicit drugs or the law enforcement authorities. The proceeds of drug crimes are laundered through sophisticated international transactions often covered by legitimate operations. Current legislative provisions at both national and international levels are inadequate to support effective action to trace, freeze, seize and secure the forfeiture of the proceeds of crimes and to prosecute individuals who knowingly possess such proceeds. In pursuance of recent resolutions of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Division of Narcotic Drugs of the United Nations Secretariat convened two expert group meetings, one in 1983 and the other in 1984, to consider ways and means of dealing with this problem. The meetings recommended the establishment of machinery that would facilitate, at both national and international levels, concerted action to deprive drug traffickers of the proceeds of their crimes. The annex to this article contains provisions recommended by the second expert group meeting for inclusion in an international instrument to supplement existing provisions of the international drug control treaties in order to deal more effectively with the profits of drug crimes.