World IN BRIEF : WORLDWIDE : Drug Users Urged to Give Up Habit

Colombian President Virgilio Barco Vargas told an international drug conference in London that drug barons are not invincible, and he appealed to cocaine users to give up the habit that has created havoc in his country. At the meeting, called by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar said that the world traffic in illicit drugs amounts to about $500 billion a year, ranking just behind the arms trade. He added that conservative estimates put the number of illicit drug users at more than 40 million worldwide.