There has been criticism that material provided for use in Vietnam. does not fit these requirements. According to one recognized authority, more use should be made of films which "tell it like it is." These films should be kept up to date and they should focus on the problem in South Vietnam.

Amnesty programs have been instituted. Basically, amnesty is 1 promise of freedom from punishment in exchange for accepting medical treatment and rehabilitation. Under this program when an addict requests rehabilitation treatment and medical assistance, he is admitted to a rehabilitation center where he undergoes treatment for his addiction. To prevent the amnesty program from being used as a vehicle to escape from combat and to discourage resumption of the habit, an individual is permitted to request amnesty only one time.

While there has been no success in curing those who inject, there have been some successes in curing those who sniff or smoke. There are very few statistics available concerning rehabilitation programs They must, therefore, be used with caution.

For example, during the first quarter of 1971, 3,458 heroin users participated in the rehabilitation program. Of this number, there were at least 703 known unsuccessful participants. There are no figures available which estimate the rate of cure of those participating. From statistics that are available, the rate of cure is not encouraging. For instance, of 532 addicts treated at Pioneer House, an amnesty and rehabilitation center located in Long Binh, between October 1970 and March 1971, there were reported 149 successful cures, 94 failures, and 249 in the unsure category.

An important part of the rehabilitation program is the counseling received during the treatment period. Even here, the program is vulnerable. For instance, the week before the study mission visited Long Binh, two counsellors at Pioneer House were arrested, one for using LSD; the other for using heroin.

Another problem emanates from the requirement that the amnesty and rehabilitation program is entirely voluntary. The individual is free to leave the center at any time. In the past, people have walked out of the rehabilitation center before they were cured. They will probably do the same in the future.

But perhaps the most serious shortcoming of the drug rehabilitation program is that there is not a coordinated Vietnam-wide effort to establish rehabilitation centers. Responsibility is delegated to major commanders. Some commands support the effort fully. Some distrust the concept and take little or no interest in the program.

Several steps have also been taken to suppress the use of drugs, particularly heroin, in South Vietnam. Drug-abuse councils have been formed in every unit down to battalion/squadron level to provide analysis, evaluation, and monitoring of all aspects of narcotics and drug suppression. A combined antinarcotics enforcement committee. composed of Vietnamese and American forces, has also been established in each military region to eliminate the illicit traffic in narcotics within the civilian community of the Republic of Vietnam.

In addition, a Joint United States/Republic of Vietnam Narcotics Investigative Detachment will concentrate its efforts on the illegal

drug supply and trafficking problem to interdict and eradicate drug sources before the heroin reaches military personnel. This detachment is made up of representatives from the several U.S. military investigative organizations, the Vietnamese Military Police, and the Vietnamese National Police.

Simultaneously, a Joint U.S. Customs Group has been established to assume responsibility for all military customs operations in Vietnam to include postal, household goods, unaccompanied baggage, and the processing of accompanied baggage and personnel arriving or departing South Vietnam. This unit is responsible for all customs enforcement, including narcotics.

Hopefully, these steps will help reduce the availability and use of heroin by U.S. personnel in South Vietnam.

There is one other aspect of the problem which is of concern to military authorities in South Vietnam-they have no adequate and reliable procedures for detecting the heroin addict. As part of the drug-suppression program, new and more complete surveying techniques are to be employed and statistical data will be collected and compiled on a command wide basis.

Measures must be taken to improve the reliability of addict detection procedures. If possible, the development of a simplified urinalysis test should become a matter of first priority for medical authorities. If this is not feasible, adequate laboratory facilities should be furnished down to battalion and squadron level. Every soldier should be required to undergo periodic urinalysis, especially before his return to the United States and absolutely before his separation from the military service. If the serviceman who has become addicted using 94- to 97percent pure heroin in South Vietnam enters the drug scene in the United States where the heroin available is 4 to 6 percent pure, the ominous implications are obvious for himself, his family, and for American society. In the absence of the heroin available in South Vietnam, the only alternative for one who has become addicted through sniffing and snorting will be to inject.

Implementation of the above program must receive the highest priority at every level of command, and it must be pushed with a greater sense of urgency than has been the case. In spite of the fact that drug abuse has been a growing problem in South Vietnam for over 1 year, the directive setting out the program to combat it was not issued until December 1970.

While U.S. military and diplomatic personnel in Southeast Asia are concerned about the problem, the study mission is of the opinion that a greater sense of urgency is needed.

For example, when we arrived in Bangkok, we were told that there was a regional conference being held to discuss the problem of drug addiction among U.S. military personnel in Southeast Asia. All U.S. agencies responsible for the drug problem were represented at the meeting. This included military, Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and U.S. diplomatic personnel.

While it was encouraging to note that this conference was finally held, such action should have been taken much sooner to mobilize the resources available to take strong coordinated action to stop the illegal traffic in heroin.

IRAN AND JAPAN

The study mission also traveled to Iran and Japan in an effort to determine what impact, if any, those countries had upon the heroin problem in the United States. We are happy to report that there is no evidence to suggest that either contributes in any way to the illegal production and smuggling of heroin into the United States.

What was of particular interest to us was the approach that the two countries have taken, and are taking, to control heroin addiction.

In both, these procedures are aimed at suppression of the illegal traffic, rehabilitation of the addicts when found. and strict justice for those convicted for illegal possession of, or trafficking in, heroin.

IRAN

Iran has one of the largest heroin using populations in the worldapproximately 50,000. Unlike the United States, 90 percent of the heroin used in Iran is produced illegally in that country. The remaining 10 percent required by the Iranian heroin addict population originates in the poppy fields of Turkey.

In 1955, because opium addiction was undermining the health of the nation, Iran banned the growing of poppies.

By 1969, discouraged by the lack of movement on the part of Turkey and Afghanistan, and alarmed by the gold drain which covered the cost of illicitly imported opium, Iran authorized limited poppy cultivation under strictly controlled conditions.

Iran has strict opium collection procedures and the poppy crop is closely monitored from planting until the harvest of the opium gum. And whereas the Government of Turkey pays the farmer $10 to $15 for opium gum, the Government of Iran pays $90. This, of course, explains in part why there is little or no leakage of opium gum from the licit to the illicit market in Iran.

There are other reasons. If the farmer in Iran violates the law, he forfeits his license to grow poppies. And if an individual in Iran is convicted of possession or trafficking in heroin, he is executed. (Since 1969, 86 people have been shot for offenses involving heroin.)

In the past, Turkish smugglers moved raw opium into Iran. As a result of strict enforcement of Iranian narcotics legislation and efforts by both Turkish and Iranian Governments to combat smuggling, the amount of opium introduced from Turkey has been reduced dramatically. Now, however, instead of smuggling raw opium, the Turks are smuggling morphine base and heroin. This is a new development.

It is easier to deal in morphine gum or heroin which has one-tenth the bulk of opium gum. In addition, opium gum has a distinctive odor and in hot weather is extremely difficult to conceal while morphine base or heroin is almost odorless.

This poses a potential problem of severe dimensions for the entire international effort to control the illegal traffic in narcotics.

The evidence suggests that the drug traffickers in the Marseilles area France are becoming concerned at the increasing pressure being lied by the French authorities in cooperation with U.S. Bureau Narcotics and Dangerous Drug agents. It is thought that they may looking for other areas in which to operate their illicit labtories. If heroin is produced in Turkey, at the source of the um gum, it will remove the necessity to smuggle opium gum or morne base to France. The long, circuitous route from Turkey to Marles provides an opportunity for law enforcement agencies to ercept the shipment at any step along the way and particularly in rseilles where it is halted long enough to be turned into heroin. on the other hand, heroin production takes place in Turkey on a e large enough to provide the illegal heroin formerly produced in seilles, interception will become much more difficult.

t is obvious that Turkey must introduce effective opium production trols and work toward a complete abolition of opium production. heroin problem in Iran and the United States is fueled by the im that originates in Turkey, and it is that country that can do the st toward helping to solve the heroin addiction problem.

JAPAN

he Japanese have been able to control heroin addiction. Since 1964 have succeeded in reducing their heroin addict population from roximately 50,000 to only several thousand.

he success of Japanese efforts to control addiction is due to effecJapanese police work and to strict penalties dealing with the nares pusher.

he maximum penalty is 10 years in prison for smuggling or selling bin.

a man is arrested for heroin pushing, there is no bail permitted. must be charged within 48 hours, however. The police can hold the ect for 10 days during which preindictment investigations are lucted. At the end of 10 days, he is turned over to the prosecutor has an additional 10 days to bring the accused to trial. If necesthe prosecutor can request an additional 10 days before comcing trial. Therefore, an individual arrested for possession of in can be held for 30 days without bail.

is the opinion of the study mission that law enforcement officials legislators in the United States should study the methods used Tapan to deal with this problem.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION TO CONTROL
ILLEGAL HEROIN TRAFFIC

It is obvious that if the illegal traffic in heroin is to be brought under control international cooperation is needed. The most immediate problem is to control the cultivation of poppies and the production of opium.

The production of legal opium is regulated by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) through the provisions of the Single Convention of 1961 which became internationally effective Deceinber 13, 1964.

The Board is entrusted with enforcing the provisions of the Single Convention. The Board asks both parties and non-parties to the Convention for estimates of drug requirements and existing stocks and statistics of production, consumption and seizures each year, and by article 12(3), if estimates are not forthcoming, the Board can fix them. Among the weapons which the Board has are requests for information and explanations, public declarations that a country has violated its obligations, and under article 14(2), a recommendation to parties that they impose embargoes on imports and exports against an offending country.

Member states are also required to license the growing of poppies and to control trade by granting export licenses only when the importer produces an import certificate from the importing country. A third country is not to allow drugs to pass through its territory without a copy of the export authorization.

The provisions of the Single Convention, however, apply only to the control of legal production of opium. They provide essentially voluntary restraints on parties with respect to cultivation of the opium poppy, production of opium, manufacture of opium-derived drugs and import and export of these substances. The United States has proposed amendments which, if adopted, would provide the INCB with authority to control production and illegal traffic in narcotic drugs. It is hoped that a conference to consider the proposed amendments would meet early in 1972.

While the study mission fully supports U.S. efforts to strengthen the ability of the international community to restrict narcotics activity to legitimate medical and scientific purposes, it is of the opinion that such a conference should be convened as soon as possible and not wait until early in 1972. Time is essential and the United States should impress this fact on the international community at every opportunity. The problem, however, is not the control of legal production, but to find ways to stop leakage of opium to the illegal market. Some countries such as India, Iran, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia have been relatively successful in accomplishing this. Others such as Turkey have not.