CLINTON CHALLENGES GLOBE ON DRUGS

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- President Clinton challenged world leaders on Monday
to work together attacking illegal drugs and stop wasting time ``pointing
fingers'' of blame at each other. He also announced a $2 billion media
campaign aimed at young people.

``The debate between drug-supplying and drug-consuming nations about whose
responsibility the drug problem is has gone on too long,'' Clinton said in
the opening address at a U.N. General Assembly special session on drugs in
which he praised Mexico for its cooperation in fighting the movement of
drugs into the United States.

``Let's be frank,'' he said. ``This debate has not advanced the fight
against drugs. Pointing fingers is distracting. It does not dismantle a
single cartel, help a single addict, prevent a single child from trying and
perhaps dying from heroin.''

``Let there be no doubt: This is ultimately a struggle for human freedom.''

About 150 nations were represented at the U.N. session.

In his speech, Clinton announced a $2 billion, five-year media campaign
against drugs, targeting young people with a message that ``drugs destroy
young lives; don't let it destroy yours.'' Similar campaigns will be
launched in Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil, Clinton said, adding that he
discussed the issue with Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso on
Sunday.

Only $175 million of the $2 billion would be federal funds; the rest would
be contributed by corporations and philanthropic organizations.

To emphasize the importance Clinton placed on the anti-drug effort, he
brought along Attorney General Janet Reno; his drug policy adviser, Barry
McCaffrey; Latin American envoy Mack McLarty; and Health and Human Services
Secretary Donna Shalala.

Clinton said the drug problem is too severe for any nation to ignore.

``No nation is so large and powerful that it can conquer drugs alone. None
is too small to make a difference. All share a responsibility to take up
the battle. Therefore, we will stand as one against this threat to our
security and our future.''

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who met privately with Clinton before
the session, called the drug scourge ``a tragic reality'' and appealed to
member nations to work seriously to find common ground.

In his 11-minute speech, Clinton described U.S. successes in reducing drug
use and made a special point of thanking Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo
for his country's cooperation in combating the trafficking of drugs into
the United States.

Clinton cited Zedillo's ``courageous resolve against drugs.'' The two
presidents met later at a New York hotel and discussed the diplomatic
fallout from Operation Casablanca, a major U.S. money-laundering sting that
led to the arrests last month of 42 people -- including about two dozen
Mexican bankers.

The Mexican government strongly protested that U.S. drug agents had carried
out the sting operation without prior approval or notification to Mexico
City. It has suggested asking for extradition of some U.S. agents involved,
although U.S. officials said extradition was not raised in Monday's
meeting.

After their 40-minute session at the Waldorf Astoria in midtown Manhattan,
Clinton and Zedillo issued a joint statement of their intent to combat drug
trafficking ``in conformity with the laws in each country.'' There was no
U.S. apology or guarantee of prior notification in future operations.

Zedillo told Clinton that his government was investigating whether
Casablanca violated any Mexican laws but had not yet come to any
conclusions, said James Dobbins, senior director for inter-American affairs
at the National Security Council. Dobbins said there was ``no negative
tone'' in their talks.

Clinton did not mention the controversy in his U.N. speech, but his
national security adviser, Sandy Berger, told reporters aboard Air Force
One en route to New York that the administration will not consider
extraditing the agents.

``I think that would be a very bad idea,'' Berger said.

In his address to the General Assembly, with Clinton sitting in the
audience, Zedillo made a thinly veiled reference to the Casablanca
controversy. He called for a ``balanced strategy'' to combat drug
trafficking ``so that no one can become the judge of others and no one
feels entitled to violate other countries' laws for the sake of enforcing
its own.''

Critics of the session held a news conference nearby to criticize the
United Nations for ``more of the same old failed policies.''

``The U.N. drug summit is perhaps the biggest pep rally ever in the failed
global war on drugs,'' said Ethan Nadelmann, director of the private
Lindesmith Center, a drug policy research institute.

In a letter published Monday in The New York Times, about 500 people
decried the routing of resources to ``ever more expensive interdiction
efforts'' without adequate attention to ``realistic proposals to reduce
drug-related crime, disease and death.''

Those who signed it included former Secretary of State George Shultz,
former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar and former Greek
President George Papandreou.

Despite Clinton's appeal to avoid finger-pointing, other leaders suggested
that U.S. demand is causing the drug problem and said they needed more
money from the United States to combat it.

``How can we truly expect small, poor countries such as mine to defeat the
wealthy drug lords if the rich countries, with their wealth of resources,
are unsuccessful in limiting the demand?'' Prime Minister Denzil Douglas of
the tiny Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis said in his speech to the
assembly.

From New York, Clinton flew by helicopter to Westport, Conn., to attend a
fund-raising reception for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Barbara
B. Kennelly at the studio where Martha Stewart records her syndicated
television show, ``Martha Stewart Living.'' The reception was held in a
tent outside the studio.

A separate luncheon inside the studio raised $500,000 for the Connecticut
Democratic Party. Clinton attended both events but spoke only at the
reception. Later, he flew back to New York for a Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee fund-raiser expected to pull in more than $1 million.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)