CROATIA SUPPORTS UN EFFORTS IN FIGHT AGAINST NARCOTICS - KOSTOVIC

( Editorial: --> 0366 ) WASHINGTON, June 11 (Hina) - Croatia supports the international community's new strategy in the organised fight against narcotics and is prepared to participate, Croatian Science and Technology Minister Ivica Kostovic said in New York on Wednesday. "My government expressed readiness to do its part in full," Kostovic said at an extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly focusing on the abuse of drugs in the world. Kostovic said the problem of narcotics in Croatia had worsened in the post-war period, so the government had taken new measures. "The problem has been recognised and a government's committee suggested a strategy on state level aimed at preventing the abuse of drugs, and the Parliament adopted it in January 196," Kostovic said. He added that this strategy made use of experience of other countries which showed that measures against drug trafficking were not sufficient and that it was necessary to focus the fight towards a decrease in demand. "My government strongly endorses this concept and supports the strengthening of cooperation in the field of prevention". "It is our estimate that the spread of the epidemic of abuse of drugs, as a post-war syndrome, has been harnessed, but an increase is still present due to the same reasons which made the abuse of drugs a global problem," Kostovic said. According to him, the new law on money laundering and the law on the control of drugs is to modernise Croatian law and provide Croatia with the needed legal preconditions for the fight against the illegal trafficking of drugs and for diminishing their consequences. Croatia is interested in becoming an active member of the UN Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) for central and southeastern Europe, Kostovic said. Croatia is working with the UNDCP on a joint two-year project of modernising methods of drug control and relevant laws, the application of the laws and measures for lessening demand for drugs. Our priorities include a strong control of the so-called Balkan Passage, as well as participation in coordinated activities of central European countries, Kostovic said. (hina) lml 111007 MET jun 98