Achieving Drug-free ASEAN "Not Easy": UN Official

Achieving a drug-free ASEAN will be a difficult task, but it will be worth all the effort that is put into it, a senior U.N. official said at the opening session of the international congress in pursuit of a drug-free ASEAN in 2015.

U.N. Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the office for drug control and crime prevention Pino Arlacchi said achieving a drug-free ASEAN will "not be easy", but in honoring the commitment made at the 1998 U.N. General Assembly special session on drugs, the ASEAN countries are stating their determination to succeed in drug control.

"Not too many years ago, the idea of a drug-free South East Asia would have provoked disbelief. Today you have come together to set in motion a process to achieve this objective in 15 years,"said Arlacchi.

There has been impressive progress already in reducing illicit cultivation in the region, with complete success in some countries, he said.

Noting that regional initiatives are a very important component of the global effort against drugs and crime, Arlacchi said ASEAN has done valuable work in the drug control field.

He will reach an agreement with the ASEAN secretariat on a memorandum of understanding on cooperation against transnational organized crime and drug control.

However, the region remains the second largest source of illicit opiates in the world, he pointed out, adding that heroin trafficking and consumption remain serious problems in the region.

In recent years the problem of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) has also taken on alarming proportions, said Arlacchi.

"The ATS phenomenon is in several ways different from other drug problems. It will need innovative strategies. This conference is an important step towards defining those strategies."

The three-day conference was held under the auspices of the Thai government and the U.N. international drug control program.

Representatives from China, ASEAN members, the United States, Japan, the European Union members, would discuss the major issues concerning drug control in Asia and formulate drug control action plans.



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