NEW `WAR ON DRUGS' HAS FAMILIAR RING

Clinton Pledges $2 Billion As UN Launches Heavily Criticized Effort

UNITED NATIONS -- Representatives from more than 150 countries have come
together for a three-day special conference again declaring an
international war on drugs, but the message has changed little from the
``just say no'' mantra of Ronald Reagan's White House.

The UN convened a similar conference in 1990, in which the '90s were
declared the Decade Against Drugs and which pledged to rid the planet of
illicit drugs by 1995.

This time, with the level of drug production and profits at an all-time
high, the goal is to unite disjointed national efforts and eradicate drugs
by 2008.

``The problem is great in scope and consequence, eroding the foundation of
democracies, corrupting the integrity of market economies and menacing the
lives, hopes and future of families on every continent,'' said U.S.
President Bill Clinton in the opening address.

``But our nations have shown, through individual and collective effort,
that we can turn this evil tide.''

Others are not so sure.

More than 1,000 people, prominent in their own countries or globally,
signed a petition calling on the UN to re-examine what they call a failed
course of action and embark on a new direction of drug control efforts.

The petition -- whose signatories include former UN secretary general
Javier Perez de Cuellar, former U.S. secretary of state George Shultz,
former head of Scotland Yard's drug squad Edward Ellison, as well as NDP
Leader Alexa McDonough, Senator Sharon Carstairs and former Ottawa mayor
Marion Dewar -- argues that ``the global war on drugs is now causing more
harm than drug abuse itself.''

They suggest decriminalizing and regulating some drugs, particularly
marijuana, and focusing on a program of reducing drugs through prevention,
education, treatment and community programs.

Clinton defended of the effectiveness of the U.S. policy of law
enforcement, prosecution and incarceration, noting that Americans are
spending 37 per cent less on drugs than they were a decade ago.

However, Dr. Diane Riley of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, says
Clinton is just playing with numbers.

``Of course Americans are spending less on drugs,'' she said, after a
session of a non-governmental organization meeting being held opposite the
official UN conference.

``The price of drugs has gone down.''

That drug prices are sharply down from a decade ago is an indication that
the traditional U.S. approach is failing. If the amount of drugs available
were being significantly reduced, supply-and-demand economics would dictate
the street price should be climbing.

However, Mathea Falco, president of the non-profit research institute Drug
Strategies and a former assistant secretary of state for international
narcotics matters, says that is not the case.

She says the retail price of heroin has dropped by more than half since
1981 while its purity is three times what it was then. As well, the THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol) content of high-grade marijuana is more than 10
times what it was in the early 1970s while prices, which climbed through
the last part of the 1980s, have dropped back to the level of the
lower-grade grass sold in the early `80s.

U.S. officials, though declaring themselves ``enormously proud'' of their
pursuit of international drug criminals and Clinton's statement that next
year's federal budget will include a record $17 billion US for the fight --
about two-thirds on enforcement and prosecution -- admit some changes are
needed.

Clinton announced a new five-year, $2-billion media campaign aimed at
discouraging young people from drug use will be launched next month and he
admitted the flaws in the traditional U.S. argument that it had a problem
with drug users while other countries had a problem of drug producers.

However, his administration is adamant there will be no relaxation of drug
laws.

``There is no such thing as a soft drug and there is no such thing as a
drug that is illegal that is not dangerous,'' said Health Secretary Donna
Shalala. ``New research on marijuana, in particular, makes that very
clear.''

She and U.S. drug ``czar'' Barry McCaffrey dismissed petition signatories
as members of the ``intellectual, literary and academic community''
engaging in pseudo-science.

``There is no way they can make their case,'' said Shalala. ``There is no
scientific basis for their claims. Just because they have enough money to
make it fashionable doesn't make it right.''