Anti-Drug Day marked in Asia

Military attaches of foreign countries examine seized drugs to be burned at a ceremony in the capital city Yangon, Myanmar yesterday. Authorities displayed a large quantity of drugs seized in different raids throughout the country, worth around US$328 million on the US market, to be burned to mark International Anti-Drug Day. PHOTO: AFP

On International Anti-Drug Day yesterday, Asian officials from Beijing to Yangon marked their fight against an ancient scourge with a desperate mixture of executions and immolation of confiscated narcotics.

China, which executes far more people than the rest of the world combined, underlined its tough, no-nonsense stance by reporting the execution of a series of criminals for drug crimes. In the southern city of Guizhou, 24 traffickers were convicted this weekend, five of them receiving the ultimate penalty followed by immediate execution, the China Youth Daily said.

They were just part of what, based on official media reports, appeared to be dozens executed in China in recent days to warn others against engaging in drug crimes.

But in a sign of growing concern about the price China's legal system pays for the war on drugs, some scholars have started questioning the way justice is meted out.

In particular, they criticize the system of "education through labor" under which minor criminals can be locked up for up to three years without ever seeing a judge, according to the Beijing News.

"It doesn't conform with modern legal concepts to allow the executive branch of government to make decisions on limitations of people's freedom," said Pi Yijun, a professor of Political Science and Law at Chinese University.

Afghanistan said yesterday it has mounted a serious campaign to tackle its booming narcotics trade and punish traffickers.

As officials torched 30 tonnes of drugs, counter-narcotics minister Habibullah Qaderi said the country expected a significant reduction in the planting of poppies for opium.

"The poppy crop in 2004 was the largest ever because everybody thought they could grow poppy with impunity, but we have already turned the corner," Qaderi said in a statement. He cited a survey, carried out jointly with the UN, indicating the area of poppy cultivation had decreased from this year to last in all but five of the country's 34 provinces.

Myanmar, the world's second-largest opium producer, yesterday burned more than US$328 million worth of illicit drugs to showcase its counter-narcotics efforts.

An estimated 260,000 households, or more than 1.2 million people, are involved in opium cultivation in Myanmar, the vast majority in Shan state which borders China.

The Nepalese government said yesterday it had initiated the work on formulating a national strategy to curb drugs.

"It is our collective responsibility to protect society from drug abuse," Home Minister Dan Bahadur Shahi said. "Involvement of some of our youths in drug abuse and illicit drug trade is a matter of concern."

In Vietnam, which has some of the world's toughest drug laws, police have cracked down on bars and karaoke establishments where youngsters gathered to dance and allegedly use ecstasy pills.

Most of those arrested in this campaign, which has taken place in recent months, came from affluent families. Many were the children of high-ranking communist party officials. A number of drug users in Vietnam are forced into detoxification centers, and while there, are given job training for one to three years. Many of them try to escape from the centers. According to state media, in mid-June 800 drug users from a center in northern Ha Tay province got out and demonstrated in the provincial township.

Eighty of them then escaped as they could not bear the poor living conditions at the center.

In one sign that efforts to combat drugs can pay off, the UN said last week that Laos is likely to reach its goal of achieving freedom from opium by the end of this year.

"For the first time in many years, we can safely assume that Laos is no longer a supplier of illegal opiates to the world market," the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said.

By early this year, poppy cultivation in Laos stood at 1,800 hectares, down from 6,600 hectares a year earlier, the report said.