* COLOMBIANS MAKING INROADS INTO U.S. HEROIN MARKET NARCOTICS
ENTREPRENEURS PROVIDING PURER DRUGS IN NORTHEAST AT PRICES THAT
UNDERCUT THEIR ASIAN COMPETITORS

Standing waisthigh in red, pink and violet poppy flowers, a
peasant delicately slits a plant bulb with a razor.
Milkywhite opium gum, the key ingredient in heroin,
oozes from the gash. [ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, PAY PER VIEW,
462 words, $1.00]

Orlando Sees Increase in `Raves'

This family friendly tourist city has become a mecca for a more
hedonistic group of fun seekers _ young people looking for
allnight dance parties where illicit drug use is common.
[Associated Press, PREMIUM, 523 words]

NEW THERAPY/ ROAD TO CURE, OR JUST RELAXATION?

After nine years of freebasing cocaine, Gregory Todd says he owes his
clean lifestyle to a new therapy that uses soothing musical
tones to stimulate brain waves. [MIAMI HERALD, PAY PER VIEW,
1057 words, $1.00]

Commandos Take Over Golden Triangle Drug Trade

Heroin factories in the Golden Triangle are flourishing again as they
once did under nowretired drug warlord Khun Sa but this
time at the direction of his longtime rivals, ethnic Wa
guerrillas. [Reuters, PAY PER VIEW, 514 words, $1.00]

Portugal Seizes More Than 6,000 Kilograms of Drugs in 1996

Portuguese police seized a total of 6,218 kilograms of narcotics in
1996 and arrested 3,724 people suspected of drug trafficking, a
police report said today. [XINHUA, BASIC, 161 words]

Bulgarian customs forsake soccer to make drug bust

When seems a good time to smuggle heroin across the Bulgarian border?
when Bulgaria's World Cup soccer team is in action and
customs officers are glued to their television sets. [Reuters,
PAY PER VIEW, 117 words, $1.00]

Two Turks arrested in heroin haul

Customs officers at the BulgarianRomanian border arrested two Turks
after finding 25 kilograms of heroin hidden in their car, state
radio reported Thursday. [Associated Press, PREMIUM, 137 words]

SIX MEXICAN NATIONALS ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

Six Mexican nationals were arrested Tuesday after authorities seized
more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana and an estimated $9,000 in
cash from a southeast Fresno home. [FRESNO BEE, PAY PER VIEW,
883 words, $1.00]

Brother of Former Mexican President Linked to Cocaine Smuggling

By Andres Oppenheimer KnightRidder/Tribune Business News MEXICO
CITYApr. 3Swiss prosecutors say the brother of former
President Carlos Salinas de Gortari was linked to the smuggling
of "40 to 50 tons" of cocaine to the United States, The Miami
Herald has learned. [The Miami Herald, PAY PER VIEW, 963 words,
$1.00]

Report/ French national team goalie tested positive for marijuana

Bernard Lama, the French soccer team's top goalie over the past four
years, tested positive for marijuana but is still being allowed
to play for the time being, French radio reported Thursday.
[Associated Press, PREMIUM, 334 words]

Legislator promises law enforcers the resources they need to win
drug war

With warlike words aboard a Coast Guard cutter on the American
Caribbean frontier, witnesses Thursday described an island
under siege with terrified neighborhoods run by gangsters and
the highest murder rate in the United States. [Associated
Press, PREMIUM, 677 words]