SMALL NATIONS DECRY SCOURGE OF DRUGS

UNITED NATIONS -- 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. "Although our law enforcement
is well trained and respected, we lack the technology to effectively combat
this terrible problem," said the president's statement, which was delivered
to a largely empty chamber by Palau's representative Hersey Kyota on Monday
night. Oratory from big nations like the United States dominated the
opening of the special session on 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. The result has been more candor than characterizes most
General Assembly sessions. 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, its Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said, local drug
seizures had risen by 30 times since 1993 and narcotics-related crime in
Armenia was up by 150 percent. New-found democratic freedoms left many
Armenians vulnerable to drugs, Oskanian said, "not just of personal use but
for 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 vulnerable to 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.

Latvia's Prime Minister Guntars Krasts said that 80 percent of Latvian high
school students surveyed have 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 coming from lower and lower age levels." No
nation has proposed legalizing drugs.

The Danish Health Minister Carsten Koch said that law enforcement works
when combined with primary drug prevention and social intervention. "No
government should jeopardize this situation by considering to legalize
narcotic drugs for other purposes than medical and scientific ones," Koch
said.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski