SE Asia intensifies antidrug campaigns<\/p>\n
Southeast Asian officials met on Monday to intensify their fight
\nagainst drug trafficking and abuse while a Singaporean minister
\nsaid that efforts so far have put the brakes on rising rates of
\namphetamine abuse in the region.<\/p>\n
Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home
\nAffairs, said joint training programs had helped law enforcement
\nagencies across the region to crack down on the drug problem.<\/p>\n
Ho said that after years of rising amphetamine abuse, United
\nNations statistics showed that the \"situation in East and
\nSoutheast Asia has stabilized. This is a clear indication that
\nour efforts at drug prevention are working.\"<\/p>\n
But he said more work was needed, and \"we have to enhance our
\ncooperation in areas such as joint investigations and
\noperations.\"<\/p>\n
Officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or
\nASEAN, are meeting in Singapore for a five-day training program
\nto ratchet up joint cooperation programs to fight drug abuse.<\/p>\n
Thailand last year launched a 10-month crackdown on illegal
\ndrugs in which nearly 2,300 people were killed, most of them
\ndescribed by officials as suspected drug traffickers. Media
\nreports and human rights groups called the deaths summary
\nexecutions. Synthetic drug abusers also topped the list of
\narrests for the first time in Singapore in 2003.<\/p>\n
Ho's comments come after the United States recently listed
\nLaos and Myanmar - two members of the infamous Golden Triangle -
\non its watchlist for major drug producing and drug transit
\ncountries. Thailand is the third country in the Golden Triangle
\nbut was removed from Washington's list.<\/p>\n
Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs spokesman Freddy Hong said
\n27 senior officials from all 10 ASEAN countries are attending the
\nfive-day workshop.<\/p>\n
ASEAN comprises Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand,
\nIndonesia, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Brunei. -- AP<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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