U.S. seeks united fight against heroin trade

Press, 25 November 1982, Page 28

U.S. seeks united fight against heroin trade

NZPA Kuala Lumpur The United States, deeply worried by the implications of a glut of heroin from South-East Asia, is appealing to the world community to help its fight against illicit drugs. United States narcotics officials who met in Kuala Lumpur recently, for a three-day regional conference, said they were unhappy that many nations regarded drug addiction as an American problem even though the menace was just as serious and as widespread in other countries. The officials were particularly concerned by the surplus of heroin from another bumper opium harvest, estimated at 600 tonnes, in the so-called “golden triangle” straddling the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Burma. After a drought in the triangle in the late 19705, the consuming markets in Western Europe and the United States have been dominated by heroin from the “golden crescent” States of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The officials said a tremendous. stockpile of “crescent” heroin'could supply the street market , for the next five, or six/years and. the bumper. crop in the “triangle” compounded the problem.

• They’.said heroin prices were falling’ as “triangle” heroin fought with “crescent” heroin to regain its traditional markets while at the same time seeking new and bigger markets in Asia, New Zealand, and Australia.

The United States sought more co-operation from governments in Asia to stop heroin reaching the black market by controlling the growing of opium and intensifying action against heroin traffickers and addicts, they said. The officials estimated that more than a third of the world’s illicit opium and heroin originated in SouthEast Asia.

Arrests for drug trafficking had been made in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia.

Thailand and Burma recently launched military campaigns against the opium warlord, Chang Chee-Fu, also known as Khun Sa, who controls the triangle opium trade through the guerrilla Shan United army. Burma, which has an estimated 100,000 drug addicts, destroyed more than 17,600 ha of opium poppy plantations in the Shan states.

Noting that the number of drug addicts in the United States was now increasing, after stablising at about 400,000 for several years, they said they feared a rapid rise in addiction throughout the world.

The United States Drug Enforcement Agency said that more than 200 kg of heroin, worth about SUSSO million, bound for street markets in the United States, Western Europe, and Asia had been intercepted so far this year. Malaysia and Singapore both have the death penalty for drug trafficking, and they

set up a co-ordinating body this year to enable narcotics officers to work across their common border. The United States officials said they still felt that the world community as a whole had not committed itself wholeheartedly to fight the drug problem. The United Nations Narcotics Commission, facing mounting difficulties and frustrations in trying to control the illicit drugs market, urged the world body early this year to declare an international year against drug abuse.

“So long as we still have addiction problems, we have not done enough to control the drug problem and we have a long way to go,” said Mr Dominick Dicarlo, the United States Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics matters. The narcotics officials said they estimated at least half a million people would be involved in the production of 60 to 90 tonnes of heroin, from the growing of the opium to its refining and distribution.

“We are fighting a highly complex and sophisticated organisation which has money and the latest communications equipment to move the illicit drug trade,” one official said. He said the problem would not be solved merely by arresting heroin couriers.

The officials, citing the example of Thailand, said the biggest task was to stop opium being grown. Thailand has adopted a United Nations 10-year pro-

gramme to substitute cash crops for opium, but the officials said it had so far failed to show any tangible results.

Narcotics officials in Malaysia and other SouthEast Asian states, while noting the United States fears, say they see a contradiction in policy by some western nations in the fight against illicit drugs. They point to the case of ’ Beatrice Saubin, a • French girl sentenced to death by the Malaysian High Court this year for trafficking in heroin. Her case received world prominence as the French press, regarding the death penalty as a violation of human rights, put pressure on Malaysia not to execute her. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment on appeal to the Malaysian Federal Court.

Malaysian officials said the death sentence for drug traffickers was warranted as a deterrent aimed at preventing drugs syndicates finding couriers.

The United States has various penalties for drug offences, including a 15-year maximum prison term for both drug trafficking and conspiracy to move illicit drugs.

“But United States courts have in the past handed down light sentences of two or three years jail for drug offences which do not reflect the Administration’s view of the seriousness of the drug problem,” one Malaysian official said.