UN DRUG POLICY CONFERENCE

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.

``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 were to meet separately later Monday to discuss, among other
things, 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.

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, following immediately after
Clinton's remarks, 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.''

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 held inside the studio raised $500,000 for the
Connecticut Democratic Party. Clinton attended both events but spoke only at
the reception.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett