ASEAN anti-drugs gains<\/p>\n
There has been significant progress against drugs trafficking
\nin the past two months. Association of Southeast Asian Nations
\n(ASEAN) members have mapped out serious new steps to combat
\nnarcotics peddlers. Their dialogue partners pledged anew to unify
\nin the war on drugs. That is the realistic end of the good news.
\nThe bad news is that the drug producers, smugglers and sellers
\nalso have chalked up successes.<\/p>\n
If the two months of stronger cooperation is encouraging, it
\nis offset by new advances by the traffickers. These have come
\nbecause of the actions of two countries vital to the anti-
\nnarcotics campaign. The most important breakthrough by drugs
\nmerchants was the violence in Cambodia.<\/p>\n
The second was the continuing cooperation by Burma (Myanmar)
\nwith drug peddlers. The takeover of Cambodia by Hun Sen was a
\nwindfall for the country's traffickers and their friends. UN
\nofficials warned publicly it would leave the country prey to big-
\ntime drug traffickers. Cambodian Pol. Gen. Skadavy Lyroun told a
\nmeeting in Bangkok that the situation was serious.<\/p>\n
Businessmen, government officials and generals already under
\ninvestigation had increased their use of Cambodia as a drug-
\nexport base. In addition, powerful individuals have increased
\nmarijuana production, established a traffic in methamphetamines
\nand ecstasy, and set up a black market in precursor chemicals
\nused in the production of heroin and amphetamines.<\/p>\n
Burma's collusion with big-time narcotics traffickers and
\nmoney launderers is well documented. Since the renewed effort by
\nmost ASEAN countries, Burma has officially joined the regional
\ngroup, and continued to pay lip service to combating narcotics.
\nHeroin shipments continue, and have increased across the Indian
\nborder. Thai police in the North claim they are overwhelmed by
\nBurmese-made amphetamines. All of this makes it crucial that a
\npeaceful solution be found to the Cambodian conflict. Trafficking
\nand money laundering will flourish so long as a frontier-style
\nway of life continues. Burma must be pressured continually to
\npick up its responsibilities as an ASEAN member. The single
\nlargest problem in the anti-drugs struggle is the cooperation of
\nboth these regimes with known drugs traffickers. This cannot
\ncontinue.<\/p>\n
-- The Bangkok Post<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asean-anti-drugs-gains-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }