UN STRENGTHENS MALAWI'S ANTI-NARCOTICS WAR

BLANTYRE, Malawi (PANA) - The UN Development Programme and the UN Office
for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, have launched a 516,950-US-dollar
campaign against drug menace in Malawi.

UNDP's press officer, Hazwell Kanjaye, said the fund aims at helping the
country's current efforts at fighting drug use and trafficking.

"The fund will also help develop legislation to build law enforcement
capabilities in the fight," he told PANA.

Malawi is increasingly being used as a conduit zone for cartels of South
America en route to lucrative markets in South Africa or Asia.

While consumption of dangerous drugs, like cocaine or heroine, is
negligible in Malawi, the country is among the world's largest producers
and users of light drugs like marijuana or cannabis sativa.

Recent police findings indicate that cannabis, locally known as 'chamba' or
'gold' among the underworld, is mostly grown in the central lakeshore
district of Nkhota Kota and the northern district of Mzimba.

Police spokesman Oliver Soko said Nkhota Kota is the country's main
commercial cannabis growing area.

He said despite police raids the drugs is still grown because most areas
where it is grown are inaccessible jungles.

"Most of the chamba fields can be tackled by aerial spray of chemicals," he
added.

In 1998 alone, at least 1,131 cases of cannabis were heard in Malawi
courts, involving 1,102 citizens and 42 foreigners.

Malawi cannabis, renown for its potency, has its major market in South
Africa because of relatively easy transportation by road through Mozambique
and Zimbabwe.

A little of it also finds its way into Europe and America via tourists.