The production, manufacture and trade in narcotic drugs, psychoactive substances, and the precursor chemicals required to produce illicit drugs, are all controlled nationally and internationally.
Monitoring and managing the movements of controlled substances is a complex process involving numerous partners.
Typically, information needs to be exchanged between commercial companies, national drug control administrations, customs officials and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
The National Drug Control System (NDS) addresses all the above needs and can be used in only one central location or as a distributed system linking, for example, customs points to the central drug control authorities.
Over the last century, a worldwide system for control of drugs of abuse has developed gradually through the adoption of a series of international treaties.
Each successive treaty brought complementary regulations and advances in international law.
From the beginning, the basic aim of the international drug control treaties has been to limit the use of drugs to medical and scientific purposes only.
A computer-based system, Computer and Telecommunication System for International and National Drug Control (NDS), has been designed and is available to facilitate management and control over licit movements of psychoactive drugs and precursor chemicals and to enhance the timeliness of information exchange at the national and international levels.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, DM/ITS NDS team has worked the last decade to develop, deploy and manage the NDS system, which facilitates the daily management of licit movements, production, distribution and consumption as well as international trade in all controlled substances in both raw material form as well as in the form of pharmaceutical preparations.
