EVEN PARADISE HAS A GROWING DRUG PROBLEM, U.N. MEETING TOLD

(Round-up of U.N. drug conference debate)

UNITED NATIONS -- From island paradises to industrial powers, all countries
are affected by the devastating and complex problem of drug abuse and
illicit trafficking, say world leaders gathered for a three-day Special
Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Beginning with President Clinton's discussion of how the United States is
spending more than $17,000 million a year in its struggle to reduce demand
and combat drug-related criminal activity, the session has focused on the
problems facing both individuals and economies.

Palau Ambassador Hersey Kyoto said the drug problem was growing even in his
country, which he called "an island paradise" with pristine waters, a
growing economy, high educational levels, safe streets, and relatively
little crime.

"Our problem is real and escalating, and may be equally compatible to many
larger and more populated societies," he said citing methamphetamine abuse
by children as young as 13 years old.

Drugs have affected classroom performance and caused increased cases of
domestic violence, burglary and felonies, he said. "While the absolute
number of cases in Palau is relatively low, the pervasiveness of these drug
cases indicates the impact of illegal narcotics in a society as well
founded and strong as that of Palau's."

"Drugs and the damage they cause to society are not limited to places
around the world that suffer economically or do not have high levels of
education or opportunity," Kyoto warned. "Illegal drug use around the world
is, as it is in the paradise of Palau, a major and growing economic and
human tragedy."

According to intelligence information, 33 percent of the illegal drugs that
enter the United States come through the Caribbean, 15 percent through
Hispaniola island, Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez Reyna
pointed out June 8. He expressed fear that successful demand reduction in
the United States could lead traffickers to seek markets in other countries
- -- including his own.

Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmonov said that drug trafficking in his
country is "rapidly developing and pernicious."

Citing geopolitics, civil war, a porous border with Afghanistan, little
experience with countering drugs, and a lack of economic opportunities,
Rakhmonov said that if serious measures are not adopted by the Central
Asian States, Russia and the U.N. Drug Control Program, "there is a real
danger of mergers between international drug structures and organized crime
groups based both in Tajikistan and in the region as a whole."

In 1991 Tajik officials confiscated only 10 kilos of narcotic substances of
any kind, while in 1997 seizures rose to over 4.5 tons. In the first three
months of 1998, more than 1 ton has already been seized. Heroin seizures
have increased from 60 kilos seized in 1997 to about 79 kilos in the first
quarter of 1998, the Tajik president said.

Zimbabwe Minister of Home Affairs D. Dabengwa said that his government
signed the 1988 international convention on drug trafficking "because we
realize that drug cartels and syndicates have a global influence and have
become agents of destabilization and a threat to the socio-economic and
political order of every country in the world."

Cannabis "is easily the biggest problem both at abuse and trafficker levels
in the country. It is the most prevalent drug in Zimbabwe and it is very
cheap to the extent that both the youth and unemployed people can afford it
and do abuse it," Dabengwa said.

Uruguay State Minister Alberto Scavarelli said that his government had
adopted measures to fight money laundering "because it puts at risk the
state's stability, honesty, and security of financial, commercial and
productive systems."

The Jamaican minister of national security and justice, K.D. Knight, said
that sustainable development programs must be a part of any crop
substitution program. "This would ensure that producers of illicit drugs
are given a reasonable opportunity to sustain themselves and their families
legitimately, and are thereby encouraged to resist the pull of this illegal
activity," he said.

"Given a choice, many of the farmers involved in drug crop cultivation
would cease. Theirs is an involvement exacerbated by a combination of
poverty and the negative impact of the international trading system ...
there is the lure of the vast resources at the disposal of international
drug cartels which are in turn driven by the seemingly insatiable demand
for these illicit drugs," Knight said.

Chinese State Counselor Luo Gan said that with China being used as a
transit route, "we are ... very much concerned about the comeback of drugs
in China and have taken a series of firm counter-measures" to both crack
down on the cross-border flow of drugs and to educate people on the dangers
of drugs.

Armenian foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said June 9 that "living as we do
in societies undergoing transition, we are confronted daily by the
realization that the new-found social freedoms of an open society, mixed
with the uncertainties of an unstable, developing economy leave many in our
countries vulnerable to the temptations of drugs -- not just for personal
use, but also for quick and easy financial gain."

Guatemala Vice President Luis Alberto Flores Asturias said that his country
has been "used as a bridge for the illicit traffic in drugs" and cited
evidence pointing to an increased consumption of addictive drugs by the
local population.

In addition to speeches by senior government officials, the U.N. event
included workshops and discussion groups on topics such as: alternative
development strategies; HIV/AIDS prevention; children, youth and drug
abuse; national minorities and drug trafficking; demand-reduction efforts
in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal; and attacking the profits of crime --
drugs and money laundering.

Checked-by: Richard Lake