MYANMAR SLAMS US FOR REFUSING TO COOPERATE ON DRUGS WAR

YANGON, Oct 29 -- Myanmar's military junta slammed the United States
Wednesday for failing to cooperate in its war against drugs and warned
tough new US sanctions were obstructing efforts to fight drugs production.

The criticism followed the US State Department's release Monday of its
biannual report on Myanmar which said the Southeast Asian nation had
made little headway in combatting illicit narcotics production.

"The United States refuses to cooperate in Myanmar's war against
narcotics and does not even allow Myanmar to participate in training
programs," the junta fumed in its latest salvo in the verbal jousts
between the countries.

"Moreover, US sanctions undermine the Myanmar economy, taking away
resources that could be used to fight drug production, help those who
have become addicted and fight the diseases associated with drugs."

Tough new US sanctions were slapped in place following the junta's
detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on May 30 in the wake
of bloody attacks on her National League for Democracy supporters by a
junta-backed mob.

The State Department vowed in its report that it would keep in place
the punitive measures and said it would consider additional penalties
if human rights and other conditions did not improve.

The junta failed to address the issue of political change in its
retaliatory statement and instead complained that the United States
was shirking its own global responsibilities.

"The State Department says that 'heroin produced from Burmese opium is
of little importance in the US heroin market,' which may explain why
the United States is still on the sidelines," it said.

"But we would remind the United States that it has a responsibility as
a member of the global community to help fight against the spread of
drugs, wherever they are," it added.

Despite recording declining output for six straight years, Myanmar
remains the world's second biggest producer of opium, the source of
heroin, and is a massive producer of methamphetamine pills which flood
into Thailand, the world's largest per-capita consumer of the pills.

Myanmar has long come under harsh criticism for its alleged role in
the drugs trade -- which some say bankrolls the junta -- and for its
failure to properly clamp down on illegal drug producers. The regime
denies the charges.