U.S. Drug Sportlights Myanmar

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                          Copyright 1997 Asia Times  
                                   Asia Times

                                 March  11, 1997

HEADLINE: US drug certificate spotlights  Myanmar  

 BODY:
   Although much of the hoopla surrounding the annual United States exercise to 
certify countries that meet US counternarcotics standards focused earlier this
month on Mexico, many other nations were certified by the US: Aruba,
the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Laos, Malaysia, Panama, Paraguay,
Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam.

   Three other countries - Belize, Lebanon and Pakistan - were granted a "vital 
national interests certification", which takes US national security interests
into consideration even though the countries did not meet the
stringentrequirements for full certification.

   Washington denied certification to six countries that did not meet the
statutory standards: Afghanistan, Colombia, Iran,  Myanmar,  Nigeria and Syria. 
Decertification can mean the loss of US loans or negative recommendations from
the US with international monetary authorities.

   The US was especially hard on  Myanmar,  which it said produced 84 percent of
the opium cultivated in Asia in 1996 and remains the world's largest producer of
opium and heroin. The report said that "continuing lack of resources and
commitment to effective drug control policies led to near record levels of opium
cultivation ... enough to produce 250 tons of heroin".

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH