AT U.N. TALKS, OTHER VOICES SOUND OFF ABOUT DRUGS

UNITED NATIONS, New York --- Palau's president describes his nation as an
island paradise, with the world's best scuba diving in pristine South
Pacific waters, abundant seafood, safe streets and a growing economy.

"One might think that our paradise is free of drug problems," President
Kuniwo Nakamura said in a statement to the General Assembly's special
session on illegal drugs. But an imported form of methamphetamine ---
nicknamed "ice"---has begun to entice users as young as 13 and 14 years old. l

"Although our law enforcement is well trained and respected, we lack the
technology to effectively combat this terrible problem," said the
president' statement, which was delivered today to a largely empty chamber
by Hersey Kyota, Palau's representative.

Oratory from big nations like the United States dominated the opening of
the special session Monday. But the full scope of the drug problem has
unfolded in sometimes poignant testimony by smaller and poorer countries
like Palau the United Nations' newest member.

They have lined up to recount how drug trafficking and consumption have
corrupted their struggling economies and societies and why they are hard
pressed to stop it.

Former Soviet republics have complained of rising drug use in the wake of
the heady arrival of democracy. Caribbean nations have recounted the
dangers of being overrun by drug smugglers.,

Many countries have asked for financial and technical assistance and a
greater effort by developed countries to reduce the demand for drugs.

Prime Minister Kubanychbek Jumaliyev of Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday that "while
two or three years ago people in Kyrgyzstan had only a theoretical idea of
what heroin is, nowadays it has become one of the main drugs on the illegal
market."

Since Armenia found itself on the drug-trafficking route from Central Asia
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said, local drug seizures had risen by 30
times since 1993 andnarcotics-relatedcrimein Armenia was up by 150 percent.
Newfound democratic freedoms left many Armenians vulnerable to drugs, Mr.
Oskanian said, "not just of personal use but of quick and easy financial
gain."

Prime Minister Basdeo Panday of Trinidad and Tobago said that his island
nation's proximity to South America made it vulnerableto cocaine
trafficking. The result, he said, was a rise in serious crime, the
recruitment of unemployed people as drug traffickers and users, and a
dramatic escalation in addiction.

Prime Minister Guntars Krasts of Latvia said that 80 percent of Latvian
high school students surveyed had tried drugs at least once, and that drug
abuse had claimed the lives of an increasing number of young Latvians.
Deputy Prime Minister Josef Kalman of Slovakia agreed, "We have noticed an
increasing number of consumers comin; from lower and lower age levels."

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski