Pubdate: Tue, 9 Jun 1998
Source: Associated Press

CLINTON URGES INTERNATIONAL STAND AGAINST DRUGS

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Armed with plans for a $2 billion media campaign to
help stanch the flow of narcotics across international borders, President
Clinton today asked world leaders to ``stand as one against this threat''
without blaming each other for the problem.

In an opening address at the U.N. General Assembly special session on drugs,
Clinton told representatives of about 150 countries, including 35 heads of
state and government, that it is time to stop bickering over whether blame
for international drug trafficking lies with countries that demand drugs or
those that supply them.

``Pointing fingers is distracting,'' Clinton said. ``It does not dismantle a
single cartel, help a single addict, prevent a single child from trying --
and perhaps dying -- from heroin. Besides, the lines between countries that
are supply countries, demand countries and transit countries are
increasingly blurred. Drugs are every nation's problem.''

Clinton said a $2 billion, five-year media campaign against drugs would be
launched in the United States, targeting young people with a message that
``drugs destroy young lives, don't let it destroy yours.'' Similar campaigns
will be launched in Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil, Clinton said, adding that
he discussed the issue with Brazilian President Cardoso on Sunday.

To emphasize the importance Clinton placed on the anti-drug effort, he
brought along Attorney General Janet Reno; his drug policy adviser, Gen.
Barry McCaffrey; Latin American envoy Mack McLarty; and Health and Human
Services Secretary Donna Shalala. They attended the U.N. session and briefed
reporters afterward.

Congress will be asked to provide $175 million of the $2 billion for the
media campaign, with the rest coming from businesses and philanthropic
organizations, said national security adviser Sandy Berger.

The money will be used for public service advertisements and a ``virtual
university'' for preventing and treating substance abuse, using the Internet
and other media for discussions on reducing the drug supply and the demand
that feeds it, Berger said.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who met privately with Clinton before the
session, called the drug scourge ``a tragic reality'' and appealed to member
nations to work seriously on finding common ground on fighting drugs.

``It is my hope that when historians study the work of humankind in drug
control they will write about the next few days as the point at which this
trend was reversed,'' Annan said. ``We must never give in to the human toll
illegal drugs are taking on our societies.''

Clinton reported a 49 percent drop in overall U.S. drug use since 1979 and a
70 percent decrease since 1985. Changing young people's attitudes is
necessary if that trend is to continue, he said, adding he would ask
Congress to extend the anti-drug push until 2002.

Calling drug interdiction ``ultimately a struggle for human freedom,''
Clinton said all nations must work on reducing coca and opium poppy
production by 2008 to ensure reduction in both the supply of and demand for
drugs. ``We will do our part in the United States to make this goal a
reality,'' he said.

He pledged a crackdown on money laundering with other nations that will
``extend the long arm of the law, as well as the hand of compassion, to
match the global reach of the problem.''

``No nation is so large and powerful that it can conquer drugs alone. None
is too small to make a difference. All share a responsibility to take up the
battle,'' Clinton said. ``Therefore, we will stand as one against this
threat to our security and our future.''

He also advanced his own proposal for containing other international
threats, such as terrorism, illegal immigration, trafficking in people and
global crime rings that are a threat to newer, weaker democracies. He made
the proposal last month before the Birmingham, England, annual summit of the
world's eight largest industrialized nations.

Among those listening to Clinton today were Presidents Jacques Chirac of
France, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, Rafael Caldera of Venezuela, Alberto
Fujimori of Peru, Hugo Banzer of Bolivia and Ernesto Samper of Colombia.

In his remarks, Zedillo called for a ``balanced strategy'' to combat drug
trafficking ``so that no one can become the judge of others and no one feels
entitled to violate other countries' laws for the sake of enforcing its own.''

This is a clear reference to the controversy over ``Operation Casablanca,''
a major U.S. money-laundering sting that led to the arrests last month of 42
people -- including about two dozen Mexican bankers.

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Checked-by: Melodi Cornett