SUMMIT AIMS TO CUT THE DEMAND FOR DRUGS

UNITED NATIONS -- (AP) -- With demand for illegal drugs rising, leaders of
the world's major drug-producing and drug-consuming nations open a
three-day conference today to discuss how to fight the scourge.

President Clinton, who delivers the opening address, has pledged to cut
drug use by half in the United States -- the world's leading drug consumer
- -- by 2007.

Latin American leaders say their efforts to curtail drug production and
trafficking will fail unless Americans curb their appetite for drugs. The
presidents of Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Colombia are expected to deliver
that message at the conference.

The goal of the U.N. General Assembly's ``special session on drugs'' is to
endorse target dates for governments to enact legislation on issues such as
money laundering, judicial cooperation, reducing demand for drugs and
stamping out cultivation of illicit crops.

``Around the world, there is a growing consensus that more needs to be done
to understand and reduce the rising demand for drugs,'' the United Nations
said in a report.

But critics fear the United Nations is placing too much emphasis on legal
measures, following a path that has largely failed in the United States,
and should consider drugs a health problem.

The conference is expected to approve a plan prepared in March in Vienna
setting a target date of 2003 for countries to pass laws to control money
laundering and increase judicial cooperation.

It also sets 2008 as the target for significantly reducing illegal
cultivation of coca, cannabis and opium poppies and for controlling the
spread of amphetamines.

Some critics, however, believe the United Nations should use the resources
of the World Health Organization to develop effective treatment programs
instead.

``Drug policy is a global public health concern,'' said Dr. Alex Wodak,
director of alcohol and drug services at St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney,
Australia. ``The U.N.'s exaggerated emphasis on interdiction and
criminalization makes it impossible to protect public health.''

In an open letter to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, about 500 prominent
figures from around the world said the ``global war on drugs is now causing
more harm than drug abuse itself.''

``Human rights are violated, environmental assaults perpetrated and prisons
inundated with hundreds of thousands of drug violators,'' the letter said.
It called for a drug program based on ``common sense, science, public
health and human rights.''

Among the signers were former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, former
U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, former Australian Prime
Minister Paul Keating, and former President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica.

Checked-by: Richard Lake