BRITISH ENVOY SAYS REDUCING DEMAND KEY TO WINNING DRUG WAR

REDUCING demand for illegal drugs is the "key" to winning the war on drugs,
said the new British High Commissioner to Jamaica yesterday.

Jamaican and British authorities have been working together to interdict
illegal drug shipments. But this is not enough, said Peter Mathers, who
arrived in Jamaica six weeks ago.

"We are also giving appropriate emphasis to the reduction of the demand for
drugs and, frankly, this is the key to this whole problem," said Mathers,
speaking to a lunch-time gathering of the Lions Club of Kingston.

"If people didn't consume these drugs, there would be no illicit traffic,
and that is what we have to try and get right," he said.

To discourage drug use, Jamaica and Britain must find ways of "changing
social attitudes" toward drug use. He said Sweden, where he previously
worked as a diplomat, has taken the lead in fighting the drug war in this
manner, having made drug users outcasts within Sweden.

"They actually have shown the way, certainly within a European context, for
how one can change social attitudes toward these sorts of behaviour," he said.

"Certainly, the people who indulge in these sorts of activities are very
much marginalised in society now."

Adding that drugs, crime and poverty were inextricably linked, Mathers said
that "reducing poverty and crime were both necessary conditions for
Jamaica's economic recovery".

He said Britain, along these lines, is supporting efforts in Jamaica to try
and persuade "all corners of (Jamaican) society to break formal and,
indeed, informal links with organised crime, and to encourage closer links
with the communities and the Jamaica Constabulary Force in its efforts to
reduce crime; and to be more willing to report incidents of crime and
suspected crime".

He noted that Britain is working with Jamaica on a variety of levels
- --including education, social policy, security and justice, and community
development -- to improve social conditions and reduce the demand for drugs.

Jamaica is a major transshipment area for South American cocaine bound to
the United States and Europe.