Due to budgetary constraints, the GOG is unable to devote adequate resources to anti-narcotics activities. As a result, police equipment is often outdated and training is infrequent. Following up on a December 1996 raid of an illegal drug warehouse which distributed anabolic steroids to customers in the US, police have continued to seize assets and illegal drugs. In early May, police and SDOE seized approximately four tons of marijuana concealed in a shipping container in the Port of Piraeus. Later the same month, the authorities seized 6.5 tons of hashish in the same port.
Some Greek officials concede that corruption within the police force is a problem.
Although anti-corruption laws exist, low police salaries leave some officers vulnerable to bribery. The Ministry of Public Order, with the help of the US government, is in the process of setting up a Bureau of Internal Affairs to combat the problem. Agreements and Treaties . Greece ratified the 1988 UN Drug Convention in 1992, and meets the Convention's goals and objectives relating to drug cultivation, distribution, sale, transport, law enforcement, transit cooperation, and demand reduction. Greece also passed implementing legislation for essential and precursor chemical controls.