PAE News
Tramadol and gabapentin on EDDC list of drugs that could be restricted: deadline for comments end October.
Every year a meeting of the ECDD is organized by WHO to evaluate the dependence-producing properties and harm to the health of psychoactive substances, including the ones with medical use. Recommendations from the ECDD on whether or not these substances should be placed under international control are made to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and are subject to a vote by the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND).
This year, the Thirty-ninth meeting of the Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, 6 – 10 November 2017.
This evaluation may result in limited access to pain treatments. The WHO is concerned that these drugs are manufactured illegally and used inappropriately in many countries. Misuse of psychoactive drugs occurs in many countries.
Tramadol and gabapentin are on the list of drugs that could be restricted. Consult the full list here.
PAE has sent a statement to the ECDD asking for the medication to be kept available for patients.
“Patients’ improvement of the quality of life, his safety and his possibility of participating in society should be the only criteria which authorities should take into consideration.” – said Joop Van Griensven, PAE President, in the letter addressed to ECDD.
We invite you, as a PAE member, to support this statement and react on behalf of your organisation, explaining why restricting patients’ access to drugs will not prevent their illegitimate manufacture and use in unregulated countries.
You need to send any statement by email to the ECDD Secretariat: ecddsecretariat@who.int by the end of October.
