From Washington's Point Of View A Lot Has Improved In Its "Backyard" But It's Too Early To Start Celebrating US President George W. Bush, the world now realizes, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. World events, everything from the political composition of the US Supreme Court, from terrorism to the US economy seem to have a preordained way of working in his electoral favor. Again it is happening with Latin America. By rights the chickens should be coming home to roost as Bush girds up for his visit to Mexico, Peru and Central America but, in fact, Argentina apart, the tides, both political and economic, appear to be working in his favor. Just the other day the IMF issued a report saying that Latin America was "set for recovery," likely to benefit from lower financing costs, higher commodities and an expected rebound in the US economy, with a projected growth by the end of the year of 4 percent (excluding Argentina). [continues 817 words]
PUBLIC AWARENESS: The vice minister of health said yesterday that drug abuse by the nation's youth was rising and more illegal intoxicants are gaining currency The Department of Health warned yesterday that drug abuse among the nation's youth is on the rise. "There are many indications that the number of young people abusing substances in our country is on the increase and there are always new substances being abused," Yang Han-chuan (."o~-u), vice minister of health, said at a press conference. [continues 444 words]
The Hardline Religious Group Supports Its Activities By Dealing In Hard Drugs In horrors reminiscent of the Roman coliseum, Kabul Sports Stadium packs in capacity crowds of 30,000 to witness Taliban justice. Adulterers are flogged, murderers killed, and thieves have their right hand and left foot amputated. Taliban soldiers gleefully parade around the stadium holding up severed limbs. The Taliban movement originated in the dismal Pakistani refugee camps during the Afghan-Soviet conflict, and grew during the Afghan Civil war between rival political factions following the Soviet departure. The Taliban promised to bring peace to an Afghan population weary of 16 years of warfare. Instead, they turned on the Afghan population.'The scourge of Afghan heroin has hit Pakistan the hardest. Addiction rates soared from less than 20,000 in 1980 to over 2,000,000 today, making it the world's largest heroin addict population.' [continues 1315 words]
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Production of the opium poppy in Afghanistan plunged 91 percent this year, thanks to a ban its Taliban rulers imposed last year against poppy growing, UN officials said Friday. Growers this year harvested 200 tonnes of the poppy -- the plant used for the production of opium, heroin and other drugs -- compared with 4,600 tonnes in 1999 and 3,300 tonnes last year, said Mohammad Amirkhizi, senior policy adviser at the Vienna-based UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. [continues 463 words]
The mind sets of policy makers about liberalizing drug laws are hard to believe. Facts are ignored and prejudice stoked into fires, but there is a growing pro lobby It should come as no surprise to the organizers of the World Conference Against Racism that many US activists want to hijack this conference that started in Durban on Friday to force a debate about how it is that the US' "war on drugs" has turned into an apartheid- like device that imprisons black men at 13 times the rate of white men. [continues 906 words]
