Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 20:43:52 -0500 From: [c--o--n] at [dsmnet.com] (Carl E. Olsen) Subject: Interpol FYI, I thought this group would appreciate the following, posted today on Join Together Online. Regards, Bob Curley ========================== Interpol Chief - Drug War The illicit drug industry and organized crime are the biggest threats to global stability in the post-Cold war era, according to the head of the international police agency Interpol. Reuters reported Oct. 1 that Interpol Secretary General Raymond Kendall said that law enforcement agencies around the globe are "pretty overwhelmed" in the fight against drug and crime organizations. "If you look at the real threat to our societies today what you have is a combination of organized crime and drug trafficking," Kendall said. "They have the ability to corrupt our institutions at the highest level. If they can do that, then it means our democracies are in real danger." Kendall condemned the absence of a coordinated attack against drug trafficking, and said that demand reduction, not supply reduction, is the key to stemming the tide of drugs and money. Some drugs should be decriminalized, Kendall added. In addition to adding great wealth and power to existing organized crime operations, drugs have spawned new mafia-type groups in the former Eastern Bloc, and drug money has fueled the activities of guerrilla units and insurgency movements around the world, Kendall said. Kendall said that politicians merely talk "about the war on drugs, the war against organized crime. "If you really mean it, then let's think of putting the resources into it that you would put into a war," he said. Date: 10/2/95 Distributed by: ------------------------------------------------------- JOIN TOGETHER 441 Stuart Street, Sixth Floor Boston, MA 02116 Email: [i--o] at [jointogether.org] Gopher: gopher.jointogether.org 7003 URL: http://www.jointogether.org/jointogether.html Tel: 617-437-1500 Fax: 617-437-9394 ------------------------------------------------------- Posted by Bob Curley for Join Together; [HN 3078] at [handsnet.org] (Substance Abuse/Hot Off the Press/Illicit Drug News) 10/2/95 -- Handsnet -- HN3078 Sent: October 2, 1995 5:19 pm PDT Item: R00EgAB ******************************************************************** * Carl Olsen * [c--o--n] at [dsmnet.com] * * Post Office Box 4091 * http://www.calyx.com/~olsen/ * * Des Moines, Iowa 50333 * [Carl E Olsen] at [commonlink.com] * * (515) 262-6957 voice & fax * [73043 414] at [compuserve.com] * ********************************************************************