GROUP TARGETS GLUE-SNIFFING BY KIDS IN EL SALVADOR

SAN SALVADOR, (Reuters) - An international children's rights group has
launched a campaign to get thousands of children from El Salvador to stop
sniffing industrial glue for a cheap high.

The Olof Palme Foundation, named after the late Swedish prime minister,
said children addicted to glue suffer so much damage to the brain that it
can impair their nervous system and motor skills.

``Glue is the worst of drugs, but paradoxically it is widely distributed in
El Salvador,'' Ricardo Quinonez, the organization's director, told a
conference to announce the campaign Tuesday.

He said the campaign would be aimed at making manufacturers and vendors of
the glue, mostly used in the shoe industry, to be aware of the problem and
limit its sale.

``Enough impunity for the unrestricted sale of this drug. This is the worst
drug,'' Quinonez said as he began handing out posters calling attention to
the problem.

^REUTERS@

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski