Burma Failing on Drugs Policy: US

By LALIT K JHA / NEW YORK

The US identified Burma along with Bolivia and Venezuela as the three countries that have failed to adhere to international obligations on countering narcotics and the illicit trade in drugs in a Presidential Determination issued by the White House on Tuesday.

"Burma has failed demonstrably again this year," David T Johnson, the US assistant secretary of state for the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, told reporters in Washington.

Under the Presidential Determination, which sets the stage for a change of policy within the executive branch of the US government, as many as 20 countries have been identified as major drug transit or drug-producing countries. These are: Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.

However, only three countries—Bolivia, Burma and Venezuela—were identified as failing to make sufficient or meaningful efforts to adhere to the obligations they've undertaken under international counter-narcotics agreements during the last 12 months, according to the US.

"Burma continues to be the largest source of methamphetamine pills in Asia. Additionally, poppy cultivation, which had been in dramatic decline, has again turned upward," Johnson said.

"The military regime has made little apparent effort to curb production of the pills and little effort to stop poppy cultivation. Their efforts to reduce demand, interdict drug shipments, and combat corruption and money laundering continue to be lackluster," he said.

In the cases of Bolivia and Venezuela, the president has given waivers to possible sanctions under US law, so that the US may continue to support various programs to benefit the Bolivian and Venezuelan people. No such waiver has been given to Burma.

However, this would not hit the humanitarian aid being given to Burma in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.