BRAZIL'S NEW ANTI-DRUG POLICY FLAWED, SAY CRITICS

BRASILIA, Brazil - Brazil's new anti-drug initiative, which involves
tougher punishments for drug trafficking and softer penalties for
consumption, was criticized by some political analysts on Thursday as
underfunded and inadequate.

"This is a parody of a policy, a badly made draft of what should be an
anti-drug policy," said Judge Walter Maierovitch, Brazil's former anti-drug
czar.

Under current Brazilian law, someone caught smoking marijuana can receive
the same penalties as someone caught with a pound of cocaine. A bill
working its way through Congress would stiffen penalties for drug
traffickers while handing drug users alternative sentences like community work.

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso launched the new program on Tuesday
while announcing the appointment of Gen. Paulo Roberto Uchoa as the
government's new drug czar. Uchoa said his top priority would be to improve
training and put together an analysis of Brazil's drug consumption problem.

But some analysts contacted by Reuters said the new policy may make the
problem worse.

Maierovitch said the policy is inspired by U.S. drug rules, but that while
the United States has spent heavily on anti-drug campaigns, the Brazilian
government is doing a lot of talking but forking out too little money.

Moreover, the new policy puts responsibility for prevention in the hands of
municipal and state governments but does not detail how they should tackle
the problem.

"The policy is an acknowledgment that the drug problem is out of control,"
said Argemiro Procopio, a sociology professor at the University of Brasilia
who studies drug habits.

"What is being announced is a policy that is too limited, that won't reach
the poorest income sectors nor rural areas."

Only a decade ago Brazil was a mere stopover on the cocaine trail from the
Andes to Miami, New York and London, but now Latin America's most populous
country has turned into an increasingly voracious customer itself.

The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNCPD)
estimated last year that 900,000 Brazilians had used cocaine. Some experts
speculate that Brazil has become the world's No. 2 cocaine consumer after
the United States, but there have been no nationwide studies of drug use
and Brazilian officials vehemently deny the possibility.

Civic groups have urged more education on the effects of drug consumption
and stressed the need for incentives to ensure insurance companies treat
drug addiction as a medical problem.