Mission to Australia
VIENNA, 5 December - From 27-29 November 2017, an INCB mission visited Australia. The mission was led by Ms. Jagjit Pavadia, Second Vice President of the Board and Chair of the Standing Committee on Estimates, accompanied by Mr Paul Rabbat, Chief of the Convention Evaluation Section of the INCB Secretariat. The objective of the mission was to discuss the implementation by Australia of the three international drug control conventions.
The mission was coordinated by the Department of Health and included meetings with officials from the Drug Strategy Branch, the Office of Drug Control, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Attorney General's Department, the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian advisory Council on the Medicinal use of Cannabis.
In Melbourne, the INCB delegation also held meetings with the Office of Medicinal Cannabis Regulation of Victoria and the Agriculture Research Division of the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources of the State of Victoria.
In Sydney, the delegation visited the National Measurement Institute and a container examination facility administered by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
The findings of the mission will be presented to the Board at its 121th session, scheduled to take place in February 2018.
(from left to right) Professor James A Angus, Chair of the Australian Advisory Council on Medicinal Use of Cannabis; Ms. Jagjit Pavadia, Second Vice President of the Board and Mr Thomas Stoddart, Office of Drug Control, Commonwealth Department of Health.