FORMER NZ POLICEMAN WARNS OF DRUG DANGER

Auckland: International drug dealers are targeting schoolchildren with the
new drugs of international concern - synthetic methamphetamines - says a
former top New Zealand policeman now working with a United Nations drug
agency.

Brion Duncan said synthetic methamphetamines had taken over from heroin in
the past three years as the main drugs of international concern.

Dealers were targeting younger and younger users.

Mr Duncan (62) said the trend towards targeting young teenagers was a
worldwide phenomenon and it would not be long before New Zealand was
affected.

"Once a drug trafficker sees the opportunities, he will be quick to jump on
them."

He said methamphetamines could be made in a laboratory and did not need
large areas of poppies to provide the opium which was eventually refined
into heroin.

Mr Duncan, a former assistant commissioner, retired three years ago after 38
years in the New Zealand police.

He is based in Bangkok, where he works for the United Nations International
Drug Control programme, helping train drugs police in six countries.

He said his role was to help countries improve their law enforcement
capacity in the international fight against drugs, to encourage them to
establish an international drug intelligence network and to get them to
share information about illegal drug trafficking.

Mr Duncan said the six countries he advised were some of the biggest
international suppliers of illegal drugs, such as Cambodia, China, Laos,
Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar.

He said methamphetamines were stimulants that kept people going and were
often used by people like musicians and truck drivers to keep them alert all
night.

"Sometimes, they sell it to schoolchildren on the basis that `this will keep
you awake so you can swot late into the night'."

In Thailand, methamphetamines were the main worry for authorities and the
illegal drug industry could generate huge profits, Mr Duncan said.

Methamphetamines were usually concocted by heroin producers, who had
ready-made distribution channels.