CEREMONY TO SHOW UNITY IN CAMPAIGN

A ceremony to show unity against drugs among people of different religions
will be held in Ayutthaya province tomorrow.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will preside over the event, which is
expected to attract between 50,000-100,000 people including foreign
diplomats, religious leaders and representatives from foreign anti-drug
agencies.

Religious leaders are expected to return to their localities and run
rehabilitation projects for addicts. Coordination centres will be set up
throughout the country.

Mr Thaksin on Tuesday said he was confident the three-month campaign
against drugs would provide his government with "more than enough"
information to pass on at a five-nation drugs meeting to be attended by
delegates from Burma, China, India, Laos and Thailand. The meeting has yet
to be scheduled. India would be invited to attend because it was a transit
country for drug precursors.

Mr Thaksin also claimed the United Nations Human Rights Commission was
impressed with Thailand's efforts to suppress illicit drugs "because we
provide the innocent with human rights protection". The creation of two
monitoring committees had made officials involved more careful not to act
beyond the scope of the law, he said.