European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 27, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday August 27, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 crack not yet widespread overseas drug s a spec Fer hanging Over Europe London a crack cocaine busts in Western Europe amount to Only a few ounces a year a minuscule amount compared with the level in the United states but authorities fear their problems Are just beginning. Crack is the Specter i see hanging Over Europe British Home Secretary Douglas Hurd told delegates of the 23-nation Council of Europe invited to London inlay to discuss drug abuse. Our Job must be to work together urgently tonsure that the United states experience is not repeated Here he is the Only european country already battling a crack problem. But vigilance is being stepped up because of an enormous increase in european imports of crack s Parent drug of the is. Drug enforcement Agency have held a workshop to teach italian authorities How to spot crack and the drug is expected to be High on the Agenda for discussion at two european drug , the cheap Smo Kable form of cocaine gives an instant intense High As it goes directly to the brain. The drug usually wears off within minutes and can leave a lingering deep authorities Are concerned by it they also Dis agree to some extent Over the threat crack poses to Western Europe. Officials in some countries predict they won t have problem. But others envision trouble on a scale of that in the United states where crime and drug abuse rates Are reported to be higher in some communities where crack use is , Sweden and Italy say they Haven t seized any crack. West German police have seized so Little Theydon t keep figures. The Swiss confiscated .07 ounces in 1988. The general Rule is that Europe is four to six years behind the United states said Gerhard Neu Rohr of Interpol the Paris based police Agency. Of course every Rule has its nowhere is the debate More heated than in Britain which had 31 crack seizures in the first six months of 1989, and 27 in the same period last authorities said they seized 3.6 ounces be tween january 1987 and june 1989,2.4 ounces of it inthe first half of this year. Although the number of seizures is still Small the have been quite widespread with crack found in Many of our major cities Hurd told another privately sponsored anti drug conference in july. Problem users have appeared in the last is month sin South London said Steve Sippell who Heads a counselling and crisis Center there and is touring to study their response to the crack epidemic. Because of the High Cost of the drug in South Lon Don he said most users in the capital make their own crack which is easily converted from cocaine. A crack the american situation today is Likely to be the european situation tomorrow. Sir Jack Stewart Clark Rock which provides two ready made smokes costs20 to 25 pounds $30 to $40about double the Price in the United says crack seizures in Europe have totalled 22 ounces since 1986, but British drug experts say this might not include Small amounts that have been seizures on the other hand Rose from 345 pounds in 1978 to almost 6 tons last year in Europe exceeding the heroin haul for the first time according to said the High Cost of crack coupled with a different mentality toward cocaine were some of the reasons Europe has not been infiltrated by crack As heavily As the United the states crack is a cheap drug for social underdogs he said. In Europe social underdogs drink alcohol or shoot heroin or take amphetamines we were caught napping when heroin first arrived said Hans Lundborg head of the narcotics Bureau at Sweden s ministry for social affairs. The government can t afford to make that same mistake is emphasizing education and treatment rather than All out attempts to Stop suppliers an approach Hurd said is derived from studying mistake committed in the United states. The americans arc quite Clear that if they Wouldhave their time Over again they would have Given More emphasis to prevention work Hurd told the Council of Europe meeting that Britain will increase annual funding for education and teacher training to 7 million pounds $11 million and pro vide extra Cash for drug treatment and . Drug pro Britain will hold an International anti drug Confer. Cnoc next year at which time crack will be discussed. The european parliament and commission will hold similar meeting in the Spring. I am convinced that crack is on its Way said sir Jack Stewart Clark a British european parliament lawmaker who is helping to organize the parliament the american situation today is Likely to be the european situation tomorrow with some slight differences he said in a Telephone group of British lawmakers who were alarmed after n study trip to the United states called for National Public awareness Campaign and the establish ment of hot lines for drug despite his own Strong statements Hurd rejects a National Campaign against crack saying this would advertise the drug. Ministers recall a National drive against heroin Sev eral years ago that was widely believed to have glamorized the drug. Most treatment experts agree with thelow key . Portray crack sensationally As uniquely diabolical will Only add to its allure wrote addiction experts John Strang and Griffith Edwards in an aug. 5editorial in the British medical journal. But Dave Turner director of an umbrella group of drug organizations said some of the hype about crack and cocaine is important in order to put pressure on the reports of elementary school age crack addicts an violence surrounding the drug May scare off potential users some officials National Media has been very concerned about crack and other drugs said Oddvar rus lad Oslo police division commander. People Here Are Well in formed. Even drug addicts discuss the dangers Fra authorizes study on female condoms Washington a the food and drug administration is be ginning to draw up guidelines to mar Ket a female condom which its manufacturer says can help protect women from the aids virus and other sexually transmitted diseases. Colin m. Pollard an Fra member of the panel that heard testimony on the device Friday estimated it will take Wisconsin Pha Macal co. At least 18 months to conduct the study receive Fra approval and Market the female condom. It will take us quite a while to jus get the study going Mary Ann Lccy or of the Jackson wis., company said after the hearing. The results of the hearing Are about As Good As we could a caper. In a presentation at the hearing said the female condom is the Only method that a woman herself can control to protect against infection from the aids virus and other sexually transmitted diseases. The device displayed by a caper resembled a sock made of polyurethane a Lough Clear flexible plastic. There arc soft flexible rings at both ends. Leper said the ring at the closed end is to Aid insertion. The female condom would cos about $1.50, a caper said and is de signed for one use. Wisconsin Pha Macal proposed to Market the condom solely As a device to protect against the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. But the Fra advisory panel decided that before receiving approval such a Barrier device should be tested on an unspecified number of women for Long enough to prove that it is a least As effective As the male condom As a contraceptive. Proposed guidelines were revise during the hearing. The panel s chair woman or. Elizabeth b. Connell of Emory University in Atlanta said the Fra staff will draw up formal regulations. Connell said the advisory pane would meet again to consider the final guidelines but she said no Date has been set. In her presentation a caper asked that the condom be approved for marketing Only As a disease Preven Tion device. Medical experts from Johns hop Kins University Eastern Virginia medical school and from private medical organizations spoke in mayor of this approach. Leper said the female condom which the company is calling Wpc 333, has been successfully tested on research equipment at the University of san Francisco and is less Likely to fail than the male condom. Conservation pane lists 7 underwater wonders Washington a a list of the seven underwater wonders of the world was announced by Marine experts Friday to focus Public attention on protecting the world s underwater environment. If a concerted Effort is not undertaken soon to protect and preserve our underwater wonders hey like the Clas sic seven wonders of the world could be lost forever through careless Ness negligence or deliberate mistreat ment said Rick Sammon president of the sponsoring organization Cedar International. The seven underwater wonders selected Friday by a 14-Mcmbcr panel of Marine scientists conservationists an explorers arc Palau an Island group in Micronesia the Northern red sea the great Barrier reef of Australia the Waters of the gala Pagos islands off Ecuador Lake Baikal in Siberia the Belize Barrier reef an the deep Ocean vents in the mid Atlantic and mid Pacific. An honorable mention went to whale Sas one of the great living wonders of the seas. Cedar International is a non profit group of 1,000 mostly Marine scientists and conservationists that is based at Cro ton on Hudson by. Sammon said selection of the seven underwater wonders signals the Start of a Cedar sponsored educational. Campaign to generate an increased global awareness of the world s Beautiful buttery fragile Marine the Campaign will include collecting and publishing information about the seven wonders a documentary series on the Sites a touring exhibit of underwater photographs school curricula on Marin conservation and a Book of photographs. Among the Marine panellists was Scot Carpenter a former astronaut and deep sea diving aquanaut for the Navy use lab project. We re killing the oceans said car Penter now an environmental consultant from Vail colo., who has dived in Mostof the Globe s oceans. Carpenter blamed the world s run away population for the declining state of the oceans and Marine life. We be Gotto Stop population growth and we be got to eliminate our ignorance he said. The Ocean is a very delicate entity and people Don t realize that Carpenter added. Without healthy oceans healthy planet is the 13 other panellists included representatives of the smithsonian institution the National geographic society the United nations the new York aquarium the new York zoological society wildlife conservation International the University of Maryland the Feder Al National oceanic and atmospheric administration and cs1ro, Australia largest scientific and Industrial research organization. ,
