US PRAISES THAI'S FOR DUMPING OPIUM

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP) Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, touring a
village whose farmers have switched from raising opium to growing
vegetables and flowers, praised the Thai people today for rejecting "the
dead end of drugs."

And she criticized neighboring Myanmar, also known as Burma, for continuing
to grow the crop from which heroin is derived in the region known as the
"Golden Triangle."

The Hong Mai village project, in northern Thailand where poor tribes live
near the borders of Myanmar and Laos, is "improving the living standard of
the hill tribes and introducing crop substitution," Albright said. "This is
in marked contrast to the country of Burma where they are not doing the
kinds of things you are doing here."

The United States has contributed $1.3 million over the past two years to
aid Thailand's drug crop substitution program, which has helped the country
reduce its production by 85 percent over the past 15 years, U.S. officials
said. Last year, about 16 metric tons of opium was grown in Thailand,
covering 1 percent of its farmland.

Albright, speaking to several hundred Hmong villagers at a grammar school,
gave the children a computer, a printer and soccer balls as well as her
anti-drug message.

"The message is, we must do all we can to provide alternatives to the dead
end of drugs," Albright proclaimed. "Here in Nong Hai, you're saying no to
narcotics and yes to vegetables and flowers and computers and books."

A dozen children, wearing traditional tribal clothes of black dresses
decorated by an array of colorful stripes, performed a dance for Albright,
who was the first secretary of state to visit the region since just after
World War II, she said.

Albright, touring the royal-government sponsored project with Prince
Bhisadej Rajani, surveyed tables laden with oversized vegetables such as
carrots, lettuce, green peppers and tomatoes. Red and yellow flowers, their
scent lending a sweet smell to the village of grass and bamboo huts with
tin roofs, decorated the displays as well.

"It's so beautiful here," said Albright, wearing a wide-brimmed black hat.

Albright spoke with a farmer, who didn't give his name, and told her that
he had made 4,000 baht a year, or about $100, from growing opium, but now
makes 50,000 baht, or roughly $1,300, growing vegetables and flowers instead.

"I think that's quite stunning," Albright told the prince. "It isn't as if
they're losing money. They're making money from vegetables. It's a great
story."

The prince told her the villagers, whose normal mode of transportation is
on foot or sometimes on elephant, are now driving cars. "They want to be
rich, too," he said.

Albright later flew to Bangkok, where she was paying a private call on the
71-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, head of state for the kingdom of
Thailand and a revered figure. On Thursday, she was meeting with Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai and Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan before heading
to Indonesia.

Before leaving Chiang Mai for Bangkok, Albright also visited a project run
by a non-governmental agency that saves girls and young women from the
prostitution trade.

Many of those who come to the New Life Center were sold into prostitution
by their families, who needed the money, sometimes to pay for drugs, or
were tricked into the trade by men claiming they would get them work or an
education or even marry them.

Albright praised the program, which began 12 years ago, for giving young
girls and women an education and training them for new vocations. She said
advancing the status of women is important for a country's democratic and
economic growth.

"It's also essential that girls not be exploited and abused and exposed to
AIDS," Albright said, speaking with more than a dozen of the center's
students, counselors and directors. "It's very important to fight back."

Chanpen Promsen, 23, told Albright she came to the center as a 10th grade
dropout who didn't have a job or much of a future and was vulnerable to
exploitation. Now, after six months training by the center, she has a job
as a diamond cutter.

"Now I'm making money. I have a job and I can support my family as well,"
she told Albright. She suggested the program should expand to help other
young women. "I don't want to see more people fall into a bad situation."