ASEAN INTENSIFIES CAMPAIGN AGAINST DRUGS

ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta, 28 Sept. - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has agreed to support the launching a new regional plan called ACCORD+, which establishes some thirty measurable targets in the fight against drugs in the region.  ACCORD+ stands for ASEAN-China Cooperative Operations in Response to new Dangerous Drugs.  The new regional plan will be the subject of the International Congress “In Pursuit of a Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Sharing the vision, leading the change” to be held in Bangkok from 11 to 13 October 2000. 

In July this year, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed to advance the target year for realizing a drug-fee ASEAN from the original schedule of 2020 to 2015.  The Joint Declaration for a Drug-Free ASEAN was originally issued in Manila two years ago.  Since then, ASEAN has intensified its collaboration with international agencies, such as the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, the World Health Organization, World Customs Council, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Colombo Plan Secretariat, and Interpol.

ASEAN noted that while there has been a decrease in the production of opium in recent years, production and trafficking of some newly emerging drugs like Methamphetamine or Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) have increased significantly over the last 2 to 3 years.  ACCORD+ shall aim, among others, to reduce the supply of raw materials for drug production and to integrate the producer communities into the mainstream economy.  Under the plan, the growing of illicit crops used as raw materials in the production of illicit drugs shall be eliminated by the year 2008.    Coordinated law enforcement operations will be put in place by 2004 to curtail the rampant diversion and trafficking of precursor chemicals.

The government of Thailand, the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention and ASEAN will jointly organize the congress.  ASEAN comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.