VIETNAM YOUTH DRUG ABUSE INCREASING DRAMATICALLY

HANOI, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Drug abuse among Vietnam's youth is increasing
dramatically, an official paper presented on Thursday said.

The paper, prepared for a two-day regional conference held in Hanoi on
preventing drug abuse by Southeast Asian youth, said drug problems were
penetrating the country's schools.

"Drug abuse among the youth is increasing dramatically. There are more than
100,000 drug addicts in Vietnam, of which 70 percent... are under 30 years
of age," the paper, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, said.

The paper added that some 2,800 pupils and students were taking drugs, of
which 1,785 were school children, according to preliminary figures compiled
by the Education and Training Ministry.

The paper, prepared by the government's Vietnam Drug Control Committee, did
not specify a timeframe or offer comparative figures.

Police reports have previously said high-purity heroin is being plied to
students by food hawkers and others, often immediately outside school and
college gates. Typically it is mixed in cakes and drinks or sold in tiny
paper 20-milligramme wraps.

"The youth is the future of the country and that (they) are facing a threat
of high risk of drug addiction," the paper said.

It added that anti-drug education was now being incorporated into school
curricula, while the official Youth Union had begun a national awareness
campaign.

The paper said opium cultivation in Vietnam had plummetted 90 percent to 442
hectares (1,092 acres) in 1998 from 19,000 hectares five years earlier.

It added that in the first eight months of this year 11,075 people had been
arrested for drug offences, while some 34.95 kg (77 lb) of heroin, 588.2 kg
of opium, 39,470 doses of heroin for inhaling and some cannabis had been
seized.

The official communist party daily Nhan Dan (People) reported last month
that some 34 people had been sentenced to death in the first eight months of
the year for drug offences, compared with around 50 for the period from 1993
to 1997.

Vietnam has been identified by international anti-drug agencies as an
increasingly important trafficking route from the infamous Golden Triangle
region centred on Myanmar, Laos and parts of southwestern China and northern
Thailand.

The Hanoi meeting -- which is due to end on Friday -- brings together senior
anti-drug officials from Association of South East Nations member countries
plus Cambodia and representatives of the United Nations Drug Control
Programme.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst