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BKK POST: Drug use in East Asia o



March 29, 1998


                                      



                                NARCOTICS

              Drug use in East
              Asia on the rise

              Heroin injections continue to spread

              Anucha Charoenpo

              The drug situation in East Asia has got worse as illicit poppy
              cultivation, opium production, heroin manufacture and opiate
              trafficking increase, particularly in Burma, the International
              Narcotics Control Board's (INCB)'s 1997 Annual Report
              revealed yesterday.

              The INCB's 1997 document, just released, reviews the world
              drug situation and the development of various drug control
              efforts.

              For East Asia, the report indicates that apart from Burma, heroin
              injections continue to spread in the region, particularly in some
              southern provinces of China.

              In addition, the illicit manufacture of and traffic in amphetamines
              are rising with the spread of abuse posing a major challenge in
              some countries in the region. Also the illicit traffic in acetic
              anhydride (used to manufacture heroin) and in ephedrine and
              pseudoephedrine (used to produce metamphetamine) continues
              to be a problem in the region, the report noted.

              To improve the better drug situation, INCB sought the further
              development of the sub-regional cooperation on drug control
              between Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam
              and characterised the establishment of the Asia/Pacific Group on
              Money Laundering and its regional plan of action, as important
              steps in the fight against money-laundering.

              The INCB's 1997 Annual Report note that governments are
              faced with creating successful drug abuse prevention strategies,
              in an environment more and more characterised by public
              messages that tolerate and even actively promote, as chic and
              harmless, recreational drugs use. 

              The report eventually note that the INCB calls on governments
              to counteract pro-drug messages spread by some politicians,
              pop culture idols (particularly those in popular music) and some
              media to which young people are increasingly exposed. The
              most worrisome development is a drug-friendliness culture that
              seems to be gaining prominence.




                                      




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Last Modified: Sun, Mar 29, 1998