WORLD LEADERS CONVENE CONFERENCE ON GLOBAL DRUG PROBLEM

UNITED NATIONS -- With demand for illegal drugs rising, leaders of the
world's major drug-producing and drug-consuming nations open a three-day
conference today to discuss how to fight the scourge.

President Clinton, who delivers the opening address, has pledged to cut drug
use by half in the United States -- the world's leading drug consumer -- by
the year 2007.

Latin American leaders say their efforts to curtail drug production and
trafficking will fail unless Americans curb their appetite for drugs. The
presidents of Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Colombia are expected to deliver
that message at the conference.

The goal of the U.N. General Assembly's "special session on drugs" is to
endorse target dates for governments to enact legislation on issues such as
money laundering, judicial cooperation, reducing demand for drugs and
stamping out cultivation of illicit crops.

But critics fear the United Nations is placing too much emphasis on legal
measures, following a path that has largely failed in the United States, and
should consider drugs a health problem.

Some critics, however, believe the United Nations should use the resources
of the World Health Organization to develop effective treatment programs
instead.

"Drug policy is a global public health concern," said Dr. Alex Wodak,
director of alcohol and drug services at St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney,
Australia. "The U.N.'s exaggerated emphasis on interdiction and
criminalization makes it impossible to protect public health."

In an open letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, about 500 prominent
figures from around the world said the "global war on drugs is now causing
more harm than drug abuse itself."

"Human rights are violated, environmental assaults perpetrated and prisons
inundated with hundreds of thousands of drug violators," the letter said. It
called for a drug program based on "common sense, science, public health and
human rights."

Among the signers were former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, former
U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, former Australian Prime
Minister Paul Keating, and former President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica.

Pino Arlacchi, head of the U.N. drug control office in Vienna, insists that
the United Nations has no intention of promoting a U.S.-style "war on drugs"
on a global scale.

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"