FOCUS CHANGES TO CURBING DEMAND

Instead of arresting drug barons to stop the international drug trade, the
United Nations is encouraging member countries to spend money decreasing
the demand for illicit substances.

"There's no question there has to be a demand for drugs for there to be a
trade," said Staff Sgt. Mike Cullen of the Calgary police drug unit.

"It's a case of the chicken and the egg-which came first the customer or
the seller?"

Since the world-wide war on drugs in the early 1980¼s, the UN has
encouraged countries, including Canada, to spend millions on enforcing
tough drug laws.

Now the UN is changing its focus to education and prevention programs.

A UN-sponsored drug conference which starts Tuesday in Banff is the first step.

More than 150 youth delegates from 22 countries will share their ideas on
prevention programs that work.

One presentation will be on a circus performer training program aimed at
street kids in India. Another uses drama to help kids in some of the
toughest cities in the US.

Officials will take the recommendations of youth delegates to a UN special
session on international drug control in June.

"In Canada, the emphasis sine the late 1980's has been on demand reduction,
but internationally, there is still a strong bias to enforcement," said
Rick Garlick, spokesman for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

"It's basically a health issue or a social issue, but the response to it,
for the longest time, has been enforcement."

In the United States, most of the war on drugs is directed at enforcement.
In a newly released 10-year plan, they'll spend four times the amount of
money on enforcement than they will on prevention.

In Canada, 70 per cent of drug-fighting money is spent on prevention and
only 30 per cent on supply reduction.

"Enforcement by itself will never be effective." said Garlick.

He gives the example of prisons, where drug use among the population is
very high.

"How far do we have to push the enforcement button, if in our prisons,
where people are behind bars, you can't stop drug use," said Garlick.

Since 1961, the UN has made three international declarations on the issue
of drug use. It's seen as a truly international problem.

Most of the drugs consumed in Canada come from other parts of the world.
Calgary¼s heroin supply comes mostly from Mexico, according to Cullen.
Cocaine comes from South America while LSD and designer drugs such as
Ecstasy come from U.S. sources.

But when it comes to the most commonly used illicit drug, Calgary¼s supply
is locally grown, said Cullen.

In fact, he said, Canada is a net exporter of pot.

A pound of Canadian grown pot can sell for $9,000 or more in the eastern U.S.