A PROBLEM FOR US ALL: U.N. CHIEF

Statement by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the occasion of
the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

THE theme for this year's observance of the International Day against Drug
Abuse and Illicit Trafficking - Facing reality: Denial, corruption and
violence - is intended to generate a serious look at the impact of drug
abuse and trafficking. It is not difficult to see the damage inflicted by
drugs. Whole countries are being torn apart by violence that is closely
linked to drug trafficking. The flow of illegal arms is heavily dependent
on the flow of funds from the traffic in drugs.

To move their outlaw cargoes from country to country, traffickers turn to
bribery as a way to get around the law. Far too often, underpaid officials
are prepared to accept, and a culture of corruption takes root.

Let us not be fooled by arguments that the money generated from drug
production and trafficking is, after all, money and thus contributes to the
economy of a given country. The opposite is true. Drug money moves upward,
enabling a rich elite to become even richer, while the gap between rich and
poor becomes even greater. Similarly, corruption simply means that only the
wealthy can afford the services that should be available to all.

When we look at the other end of the chain, we see the violent and often
brief life of the addict. There is in fact very little difference between
industrialised countries and developing countries in this respect.

Drugs move in all directions. Some of the world's highest addiction rates
are now in developing countries. Drug abuse has become everyone's problem.

Violence is the partner of drug abuse - violence against the authorities,
violence between gangs of traffickers, violence against innocent people in
order to get the money needed to buy drugs, violence in the home as the
family disintegrates.

Most of all, there is the violence of the addict towards himself - the
destruction of body and soul.

The answer lies ultimately in the prevention of abuse itself. Our young
people need their parents, their neighbours and their communities as they
grow to maturity.

Yet we live in a fast-paced world which far too often denies them these
essential parts of the nurturing they need. They find their role models
elsewhere. Far too often, drugs and violence enter the scene, perceived as
ways to have fun or perhaps to escape problems.

Our task is to help today's youth find a positive path - a path without
drugs - through the uneasy environment in which they live, a path that will
bring them into responsible and productive adulthood. There is no task more
noble.

I call on all of you to use this observance as an opportunity to dedicate
yourselves to acting in your families and in your communities to eliminate
illegal of drugs and the damage they inflict.

At the level of Governments, I remind all member states of the commitments
they made two years ago at the Special Session of the General Assembly to
achieve significant reduction in the production, trafficking and abuse of
illicit drugs.