DRUG ABUSE WAS DISCUSSED AT EVERY GENERAL MEETING OF THE ICPO SINCE 1948, BUT IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE LATE 1960'S THAT DRUG PROBLEMS BECAME SERIOUS ENOUGH IN EUROPE FOR COUNTRIES TO BECOME ACTIVELY CONCERNED. BY 1970, THE ICPO WAS HAVING DIFFICULTY IN PROCESSING THE FLOOD OF INFORMATION FROM SPECIALIZED NARCOTICS UNITS AND FELT THAT INCREASED INVOLVEMENT IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST DRUG TRAFFICKING WAS NECESSARY. THE SEPAT PLAN (STUPEFIANTS EUROPE PLAN D'ACTION A TERME) IMPLEMENTED IN 1972. UNDER THIS PROGRAM, THREE LIAISON OFFICERS WOULD VISIT THE DIFFERENT EUROPEAN COUNTRIES THREE TIMES A YEAR, ANALYZE THE SITUATION ON THE DRUG SCENE, AND REPORT THEIR CONCLUSIONS TO THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT. THE OFFICERS WOULD ALSO PROMOTE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND INFORM LOCAL POLICE ABOUT WAYS THAT ICPO COULD ASSIST THEM. AN EVALUATION OF SEPAT'S FIRST YEAR SHOWED THAT IT HAD BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN IMPROVING COOPERATION AND OBTAINING A PRECISE PICTURE OF DRUG TRAFFIC IN EUROPE. HOWEVER, SOME ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS WERE APPARENT. AT THE 1974 REGIONAL CONFERENCE, MEMBERS APPROVED AN EXPANSION OF SEPAT'S STAFF AND INTRODUCED THE ST MESSAGE TO SPEED UP TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION ON DRUG CASES WITH INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS. SEPAT, OR EUROSTUP AS IT IS NOW CALLED, NOW HAS SIX LIAISON OFFICERS IN EUROPE, A SPECIAL SECTION FOR RESEARCH AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS WHICH WILL PUBLISH A BULLETIN, AND LIAISON OFFICERS IN SOUTH AMERICA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA. (MJM)