Study of prevention policy and management of emerging substances and controlled drugs in the United Nations and advanced countries.

Drug abuse and its imperilment to the society have become a major global issue leading to significant government policies all over the world to cope with the rising trends of drug abuse. Latest statistical data in Taiwan shows that the present situation of domestic drug abuse mainly includes the following problems:(1) a rising trend in the number of drug abuse cases; (2) the trend of drug abuse in younger generation; and (3) the sharp increase in the amount of prescription of hypnotic drugs like benzodiazepines and other z-drugs besides the high-ranked controlled drugs such as heroin, amphetamines, ketamine, 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) etc. This shows that both prescribed drugs and controlled drugs play important roles in drug abuse in Taiwan. In recent years, due to the innovation of many new synthetic drugs, the over-use of prescribed drugs, and the legalization of marijuana, significant changes have been seen in different countries concerning the mechanism of managing newly-emerged substances, the regulation of controlled drugs, and even the way of restriction on prescribed drugs. Such changes in drug-control strategies all over the world will surely affect the direction of the domestic drug-abuse prevention in Taiwan. To clarify the advantages and disadvantages of our current management system and to search for an effective prevention policy from among other countries will facilitate the drug-control and poison-prevention policy in our country with the international trend. Thus, there is an urgent need to have an updated of our work in drug-control and poison-prevention in order to have a comprehensive review of the present situation so that our legislation will be harmonized with the international regulations. The present study will adopt both qualitative and quantitative methods. For qualitative approach, literature review with textual analysis will be used to compare and contrast the drug abuse epidemic among various developed countries in America, Oceania, Europe and Asia. For quantitative approach, the study will employ data from Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan as well as from other mandate authorities all over the world to evaluate current control policies in different countries for better decision-making in the future. Further works will include conducting conferences with expert consultation to the Taiwan cultural setting in order to study and analyze our strategies of substances management and drug control. Finally, based on the above findings, a feasible and comprehensive recommendation will be summarized. The aims of this study are as follows: (1) To analyze government responsibilities and division, management decree and penalties, regulated procedures and listing items of poisons and controlled drugs in the world; (2) To analyze domestic and international poisons and drug abuse patterns and trends in recent years; (3) To summarize decision- making mechanism in the prevention and controlling management in current abuse situation amidst different governments; (4) To evaluate and compare the association between abuse trends and effectiveness of managements in different countries, so as to find out the weak points in our current policy from the comparison; (5) In summary, to propose viable recommendations about policy and decision making for substance control acts. The suggestions will make contribution to improve the current abuse crisis for a better and safer society.