UN Opens War On Drugs

June 09, 1998 - NZ Herald - editor@herald.co.nz

NEW YORK- Leaders of the world's major drug-producing and drug-consuming nations open a three-day conference today to endorse ways to combat trafficking, curb demand and strengthen global cooperation in the fight against drugs.

The goal of the United Nations General Assembly "special session on drugs" is to accept target dates for Governments to enact legislation on issues such as money-laundering, judicial cooperation, reducing demand and stamping out cultivation of illicit crops.

President Clinton, who delivers the opening address, has pledged to cut drug use by half in the United States 'the world's leading drug consumer' by 2007. Latin American officials say their own efforts to curtail drug production and trafficking will fail unless the Americans curb their appetite for narcotics.

The conference is expected to approve a plan which sets a target date of 2003 for countries to pass laws to control money laundering and increase judicial cooperation.

It also sets 2008 as the target for significantly reducing illicit cultivation of coca, cannabis and opium poppies and for controlling the spread of amphetamines.

But critics fear the United Nations is placing too much emphasis on legal measures, following a path which has largely failed in the United States.

They believe the United Nations should consider drugs as a health problem and use the resources of the World Health Organisation to develop effective treatment programmes.

"Drug policy is a global public health concern," said Dr Alex Wodak, director of alcohol and drug services at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, Australia. "The UN's exaggerated emphasis on interdiction and criminalisation makes it impossible to protect public health."

Pino Arlacchi, head of the UN drug control office in Vienna, insists that the United Nations has no intention of promoting a US-style "war on drugs" on a global scale.

Statistics on drug users worldwide produced by the UN in preparation for the summit include: Heroin and other opiate substances- 8 million people. Cocaine- 13.3 million people. Cannabis (marijuana, hashish)- 141.2 million. Hallucinogens- 25.5 million people. Amphetamine stimulants- 30.2 million people.

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