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The one true pearl of wisdom in the report I find in its final paragraph, In my view too much emphasis tends to be given to the law enforcement aspects of the illicit narcotics trade at the expense of the other equally important disciplines. The region is paying a forfeit today as a result of this imbalance. As South East Asia and the Far East will have two Regional Narcotics Liaison Officers before too long, one U.N. and one Interpol, both law enforcement orientated, there is no requirement for the Colombo Plan Drug Adviser to be from the same business; indeed it would be advantageous that he should not be so. If it is voted that the post will continue, then I suggest the Adviser's charter should be confined to public education and connected matters concerned with the prevention of drug abuse, and the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts. These are two large, complex and rather neglected fields of endeavour requiring exploration in depth and very considerable expansion in this region more than enough for one man with a big parish if he is to do the job properly. Without achieving a marked degree of success with them much more than at present the illicit traffic will continue indefinitely at a substantial level and law enforcement coups can only be transitory. Crop substitution, law enforcement, legislation and training I opine should be left to others, except for training in these two particular areas of responsibility. If something along these lines is accepted, a logical corollary would be a change of Drug Adviser to put a man in post with the right background and skills, even though P.A. has dabbled in these disciplines before. I notice that both the Drug Adviser and his deputy are lawyers and therefore law enforcement orientated by profession which seems wrong and lacks any sort of inter- disciplinary mix. From Burma inclusive eastwards the Colombo Plan has no part to play henceforward in narcotics law enforce- ment; the future in this respect lies with the U.N. and Interpol at international level.
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Perhaps I may now offer a few specific comments on certain parts of the report.
The matter of co-ordination is referred to in paragraphs 4, 11 and 31(iii). I have had plenty to say about this in the past. All I would add here is that it was con- spicuously absent in respect of the Colombo Plan meeting at Bangkok in July when Abarro organised it behind the back of the U.N., knowing that the latter was going to do a similar exercise. I believe our delegate at Singapore should not let this pass without remark.
You were present at part of the meeting at Colombo reported in paragraphs 5 to 10. The point that strikes me about it is the all embracing nature of its content which as I mentioned above can only lead to superficial and shallow exploration of any particular aspect. Regarding paragraphs
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