This report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. Volume 1 of the 2019 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (March 2019 issuance) provides an overview of actions taken during the previous year by the governments of nearly 70 countries to reduce illicit drug production, trafficking, and use. This global challenge bears more direct impact on the health and safety of Americans than at any time in our history. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70,000 people died in the United States from drug overdoses in 2017, making drug overdoses the leading cause of premature deaths in the country. The vast majority of the illicit drugs responsible for these deaths originate outside the United States, placing drug supply and demand reduction among the most urgent U.S. foreign policy priorities. Opioids continue to fuel the majority of U.S. overdose deaths. What began as a prescription drug problem and morphed into a heroin epidemic has shifted to misuse of highly potent synthetic opioids, particularly fentanyl and its analogues. Synthetic opioids are frequently laced into heroin and other drugs, or pressed into counterfeit pills and sold to often unsuspecting users, adding to the risk of overdose. These shifts have resulted in a staggering loss of American lives in recent years. Deaths from synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, soared to nearly 30,000 in 2017, up more than 45 percent from 2016.

The 2019 INCSR covers countries that range from major drug producing and drug-transit countries, where drug control is a critical element of national policy, to small countries or entities where drug issues or the capacity to deal with them are minimal. The reports vary in the extent of their coverage. For key drug-control countries, where considerable information is available, comprehensive reports are provided. For some smaller countries or entities where only limited information is available, reports include whatever data the responsible U.S. diplomatic mission could provide. The country chapters report upon actions taken - including plans, programs, and, where applicable, timetables - toward fulfillment of Convention obligations. Because the 1988 UN Drug Convention's subject matter is so broad and availability of information on elements related to performance under the Convention varies widely within and among countries, the Department's views on the extent to which a given country or entity is meeting the goals and objectives of the Convention are based on the overall response of the country or entity to those goals and objectives. Reports will often include discussion of foreign legal and regulatory structures.

Introduction * Policy and Program Developments * USG Assistance * Chemical Controls * Country Reports * Afghanistan * Albania * Algeria * Argentina * Armenia * The Bahamas * Belgium * Belize * Benin * Bolivia * Bosnia and Herzegovina * Brazil * Burma * Cabo Verde * Canada * China * Colombia * Costa Rica * Cuba * Dominican Republic * Dutch Caribbean * Eastern Caribbean * Ecuador * El Salvador * Georgia * Ghana * Guatemala * Guyana * Haiti * Honduras * India * Indonesia * Iran * Jamaica * Kazakhstan * Kenya * Laos * Malaysia * Mali * Mexico * Morocco * Mozambique * The Netherlands * Nicaragua * Niger * Nigeria * Pakistan * Panama * Paraguay * Peru * Philippines * Russia * Senegal * Serbia * Spain * Suriname * Tajikistan * Tanzania * Thailand * Trinidad and Tobago * Turkey * Ukraine * United Kingdom * Uzbekistan * Venezuela * Vietnam