These guidelines were developed through a series of activities. In June 1995 a meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on National Drug Policy was held, to update the 1988 Guidelines for Developing National Drug Policies.1 Comments and contributions on successive drafts were received from international groups, organizations and individual experts, as well as from staff members from the Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy (EDM) and WHO Regional Offices. The final text was edited by C. Hodgkin, E.D. Carandang, D.A. Fresle and H.V. Hogerzeil.
The comments and contributions of the following persons are gratefully acknowledged: F.S. Antezana, H. Bale, W. Bannenberg, K. Bremer, P. Brudon, J. Cohen, M. Cone, A. Creese, A.W. Davidson, T. Eriksen, M. Everard, M. Fofana, B.B. Gaitonde, G. Gizaw, V. Habiyambere, M. Helling-Borda, D. Henry, K. Hurst, B. Joldal, K. de Joncheere, Kin Shein, Q. Kintanar, S. Kopp-Kubel, R.O. Laing, R.F. Lobo, Y. Maruyama, B. Merkel, M.Murray, S.Muziki, S.Nightingale, T.L.Paal, M.Paz-Zamora, J.D.Quick, L. Rägo, C. Rambert, J.A. Reinstein, H. Rouppe van der Voort, L.B. Rowsell, G. Sitbon, S. Soesilo, P. Spivey, G. Tomson, A. Toumi, G. Velasquez, C. Voumard, K. Weerasuriya, E. Wondemagegnehu and X. Zhang.