GOVT AID 'ESSENTIAL' IN WAR ON DRUGS

Winning the global war on drugs means increasing the levels of
international aid to developing countries, an Australian expert says.

The latest annual report from the United Nations International
Narcotics Control Board into the global state on drugs says
alternative development programs, which aim to protect and assist
subsistence farmers who are vulnerable to drug gangs, have been
extremely successful in stemming the cultivation of drugs such as
opium and cocaine.

"For us to ask a subsistence farmer, whether he's growing opium in
Afghanistan or coca leaf in Bolivia or Colombia, to stop growing it,
he's not likely to do so if it means his family isn't going to be
properly clothed and fed," said INCB member Major Brian Watters.

"If it comes to the test between that and between not contributing to
a problem in the rich western world, then I'm sure there's no issue for him."

"If the western world really wants to see a reduction in these
products then they have to bite the bullet economically speaking and
provide the resources to enable these people to live a reasonable
life with reasonable earnings from jobs that are acceptable."

Oceania, which encompasses Australia and New Zealand, is emerging as
a transit area for the amphetamine "ice", with a substantial increase
in reported seizures of the drug, the report says.

Use of the drug is on the rise, as it has replaced heroin for some
users in the face of a heroin "drought".

Significant inroads have been made into the cocaine problem, although
New Zealand seems to be a target of South American syndicates wanting
to ship the drug into Australia and the United States, the report says.

Maj Watters, a former head of the Australian National Council on
Drugs, said there had been a decrease in the use of every drug except
amphetamines, which appeared to be having its heyday.

A surge in internet pharmacies was one of the major problems
confronting authorities in the drug crackdown, he said.

There are 2.5 million inappropriate prescriptions issued every month
online in the United States alone.

"Some (pharmacies) are actually, on the international level, owned by
drug syndicates and some of the drugs they are sending are actually
legal pharmaceuticals that can only be supplied on prescription," Maj
Watters said.

"In a broad sense we know that this is a worldwide phenomena and we
believe that it's happening in Australia as well."

Clandestine amphetamine manufacturers are also operating scores of
smaller laboratories instead of larger set-ups and are importing
legitimate industrial chemicals from China.

"It is impossible to assess which of these chemicals, many of which
are used in paints and plastics, are being brought in for legitimate
purposes," he said.

The report also expressed concern that of 15 Oceania states, only
Australia, Fiji, Micronesia, New Zealand and Tonga are party to all
three international drug control treaties.