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PMO/2
quite frankly that when I went and saw those closed camps, I was immensely impressed first of all with the administration.
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I think
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the first thing that strikes a stranger going into those camps
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is the smartness, the cleanliness, and the conditions in which people are living inspite of the fact that they are confined.
I mean,
nobody, no human being, would choose to be confined but given the closed camp policy I really do think from what I saw that those who are responsible for administering that policy, are doing as well as anybody possibly could. So I will go back with that impression. I will go back also with a very favourable impression of those members of voluntary organisations who are working within the camps.
I went across and Their's is a difficult job that is for certain.
saw the open camps and was able to compare conditions there with conditions in the closed camps. Today we have been concerned with drugs. I was so interested to learn about the register.
You are in
a better position than the UK to judge the scale of the problem. It is not quite so easy to decide on what your policy should be to deal with that problem when you can't actually quantify the problem. And we can't; we haven't got the statistical information which you
I could have have got back in the UK. Those are just a few words. gone on a lot longer.
MR ? The drugs situation was commented upon earlier by somebody in UK just this week. Do you find his assessment that it is getting worse here, are there more opiates coming out of the Golden Triangle or not ?
MINISTER:
I understand I am not qualified to say that. from what I was told this morning that bearing in mind the fact that the street price has dropped so much, it must be considered a great achievement that the actual amount of addiction has not gone up corespondingly because normally one would expect that to happen.
But you So I think there is evidence there of the policy working. mustn't ask me to comment on such matters because I am no expert.
I can give you the impressions I formed today and this afternoon
It was my first experience of going to any sort of drugs rehabilitation
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