A Compendium of INCB Statements on Access to Medicines

  • Drug Control and Access to Medicines Consortium. 2010.
  • Any candid review of the International Narcotic Control Board’s (INCB) statements over the past decade must conclude that the Board strongly supports and works to facilitate access to controlled drugs for medical and scientific purposes. It is paradoxical, then, that many stakeholders criticize the INCB and see it as a barrier. An important theme coming out of our interviews of well-informed champions in the pain, palliative care and drug treatment domains was that national officials in drug control and health care perceive the INCB to be against improving access. This document refutes these perceptions by collecting and organizing INCB statements on a range of specific issues related to medical and scientific access (up to and including the 2008 Annual Report).
  • Keywords: international drug policy, International Narcotics Control Board, opioid availability/accessibility, UN system