CALLS FOR EU DRUGS CZAR TO FIGHT DESIGNER DRUGS

BRUSSELS, Nov 27 (Reuters) The European Union needs a single U.S.style
drugs czar to coordinate the fight against drugs, and especially trendy
designer drugs like ecstasy, a European Parliamentary drugs expert said on
Thursday.

``The issue of drugs abuse covers many policy areas, it would therefore
benefit from a clearer lead,'' British Conservative EuroMP Sir Jack
StewartClark told a conference on synthetic drugs attended by leading
drugs experts from around the world.

``Europe's drug prevention strategies must be urgently focused on the
growth of synthetic drugs and the increasing rise of bigtime criminals,
who use drugs trade as the base of their operations,'' he said.

He said the czar should be chosen from the group of European Commissioners
who currently deal with drugsrelated issues, to coordinate policy from
justice to health to foreign policy.

Justice Commissioner Anita Gradin told the conference that she would push
for wider international discussion of easily manufactured and cheap
synthetic drugs commonplace in discos, raves and house parties at
next June's U.N. general assembly special session on drugs.

She said the drugs policy should cover all issues, including the growing
role of eastern European applicant countries in manufacturing them.

Willy Bruggeman, of the Drugs Unit of the EU's Europol police agency, said
that although over three million ecstasy pills had been confiscated in the
15nation bloc last year, that represented just one month's demand for a
single EU country.