cannabisnews.com: US Drug Czar Broadens Global Anti-Drug Campaign





US Drug Czar Broadens Global Anti-Drug Campaign
Posted by FoM on May 29, 2000 at 10:55:56 PT
By Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press Writer
Source: Arizona Daily Star
In his campaign to broaden the global fight against drugs, U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey held talks with Secretary-General Kofi Annan Friday and announced plans to visit Asia next month. The United States is committed to ``absolute cooperation'' with the U.N. drug control program, which McCaffrey praised for not only launching sensible international initiatives on intercepting drugs and curbing drug-crop production but more importantly for starting to take a broader approach to the global drug problem. 
At the meeting, McCaffrey said, ``we expressed our concern about the serious and growing drug consumption problem throughout the (Western) hemisphere, in Europe, in Malaysia, in Russia.'' Pino Arlacchi, director of the U.N. program, and U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke also attended the meeting where McCaffrey announced plans to travel to China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand to pursue improved cooperation on fighting drugs. In the past decade, he said, the drug problem in the United States has dropped sharply: cocaine use is down about 70 percent and general drug use and drug-related murders are down about 50 percent. Nonetheless, the United States right now has 5.1 million chronic addicts, and every year 52,000 Americans die from drugs, he said, and Americans are still spending about $ 57 billion a year on illegal drugs, which cause more than $ 100 billion in damage to society. ``We can't get at that problem unless we work with the international community,'' McCaffrey stressed. ``And it's not just drugs, it's money laundering, it's precursor chemicals, it's arms smuggling, it's a relationship of drugs to terrorism. ... We also discussed the connection between drug abuse and AIDS.'' McCaffrey, who directs White House national drug policy, predicted that a $ 1.6 billion emergency assistance proposal for Colombia, focused largely on combating narcotics flows, will be approved by the U.S. Senate. After sailing the House of Representatives in March, the legislation has faced delays in the Senate but McCaffrey said it has deep bipartisan support and ``I think it will pass.'' He said 34 nations in the Western hemisphere are working together to combat drugs and the Clinton administration over the past year has been working ``very seriously to enhance partnership with the Pacific nations.'' On his Asia trip next month, McCaffrey said he will visit Beijing, look at drug treatment and prevention programs in Kunming, in Yunan Province. Then, he said, he will visit Hong Kong ``to look at the whole notion of international cooperation on interdiction.'' McCaffrey said his next stop will be Hanoi where he plans to talk to the Vietnamese government about cooperation in the fight against drugs in southwest Asia. The trip will end in Thailand, with a talk to U.S. ambassadors from the region ``about the really spectacular success we've had in the last 15 years working with Thailand,'' he said. Specific dates for the trip were not announced. By Edith M. LedererAssociated Press WriterUnited Nations (AP)The Arizona Daily Star Online - Monday, 26 May 2000 CannabisNews McCaffrey Articles & Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/McCaffrey.shtmlhttp://alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/search?type=all&query=cannabisnews+McCaffrey
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on May 29, 2000 at 15:05:52 PT:
Figures don't lie, but liars can figure
And ol' barry, it seems, can figure with the best of 'em.'United States right now has 5.1 million chronic addicts, and every year 52,000 Americans die from drugs...'Interesting. According to the ONDCP's own figures of last year, it was 7,000 dead from illicit drug usage (not a single one from cannabis, of course). Then somehow it has climbed to 14,000. And now McCaffrey is saying that 52,000 are dying each year.If I were Barry, I'd be careful about that cavalier attitude of throwing around figures. Given that he made the statements, and that he is supposed Drug Czar, and that this has happened within the space of a single year *and all on HIS watch*, it don't look too good for Barry. He's already in hot water with some legislators wanting to investigate his Barry-ola scheme. Some Congressmen and Senators, none too pleased with this scandal-besmirched Administration for plenty of other reasons, might see this as an opportunity to do some further investigating.
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Comment #1 posted by MikeEEEEE on May 29, 2000 at 12:33:47 PT
McJokeFreak
Here he goes again, he has to do something for the $$$$.
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