Drug Abuse Meeting Proposed by U.N. Chief

Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, comparing drug abuse with the plagues of earlier ages, proposed Friday that an international conference be held in 1987 to deal with all aspects of the problem.

“Illicit drugs, wherever they are produced or used, contaminate and corrupt, weakening the very fabric of society,” he said in a speech to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, adding that the time has come for the United Nations to undertake a “bold and new offensive” to combat drug trafficking and abuse.