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Drug Use
Epidemic
D
rug abuse has reached
unprecedented
proportions worldwide, even
threatening the security of
sorne nations. according lo
!he annual report of !he
lnternational Narcotics
Control Board. lllicit
production, trafficking and
!he abuse of drugs-legal
and illegal-now affects
record numbers of people.
Among the findings:
• The situation in
Western Europe is "grim
and deteriorating," with
heroin use in particular "a
major public health
problem." Britain, West
Germany and ltaly reported
!he largest amounts of
heroin seized las! year,
while the Netherlands,
France and Belgium were
also gravely affected.
Cocaine is also "a major
drug of abuse," with large
amounts seized in Spain,
Belgium, France and West
Germany. Amphetamine
ltaly
BaHies
Tax Dodgers
A
friend of ltalian dictator
Benito Mussolini once
commented that ltaly must
be difficult l o govern.
"11
is
not difficult,•· replied
Mussolini. "11 is impossible."
Par! of the difficulty the
ltalian government faces is
how lo deal with tax
dodgers. The trouble is
that avoiding one's laxes is
September 1985
misuse is greatest in
Scandinavia.
• In Ganada, "Abuse
and illicit traffic in drugs
constitute serious and
growing concerns.
Cannabis and its
derivativas remain the most
extensively abused . ..
Cocaine is increasingly
becoming the second drug
of abuse ..."
• Drug production,
especially cocaine. and
trafficking continue lo
expand in Latín America
and the Caribbean.
• The Middle East
"remains a major source of
opiates for the international
illicit traffic. Over one half of
the heroin seized in North
America and around 70
percent seized in Western
Europe during the first
seven monihs of 1984
originate in the Near and
Middle East."
• Traffickers in
economically depressed
areas of Africa have pul that
continent " al great risk."
• Countries such as Brazil
have been transformad from
seen by many as one
more necessary duty in
!'arte di arrangiarsi-the art
of getting by.
Finance Minister Bruno
Visentini is armed with a
battery of computers lo
identify the country's
millions who refuse lo pay
their share of laxes.
Behind him stand llaly's
trade unions and hourly
wage earners who are
unable lo avoid laxes
because of payroll
deductions.
Shopkeepers and
salaried workers are the
main targets for
investigation. According lo
government reports. !he
average shopkeeper
declares an annual income
t
less !han that of his
¡
employees. Professionals
"' and other salaried workers
1
otten report similarly "poor
transit routes into cocaine
production centers.
While drug abuse remains
a serious problem in !he
United States, overall
percentages of curren! and
new abusers seem to be
leveling off within sorne age
groups. According to a
University of Michigan survey,
there is a growing aversion
incomes."
Mr. Visentini plans lo
curtail what is seen as
massive fraud by closing
tax loopholes.
Opposition lo the finance
minister is significan!,
however. Sorne even fear
that !he Craxi government
could collapse over the
issue. But the socialist
government feels something
mus! be done lo spread
the burden of ltaly's
generous welfare system
lo marijuana. cigarettes and
alcohol among high-school
seniors, while !he leve! of
cocaine use has not
changed since 1979 among
that group.
The World Heallh
Organization estimates that
there are sorne 48 million
drug abusers worldwide, and
!he number is increasing. •
evenly and fairly among all
taxpayers. And it is !he
fairness issue that has
divided !he nation's
business and working
classes.
In ltaly, !he unemployed
can receive 80 percent of
their income in a welfare
system increasingly
financed by the wage
earners. Yet businessmen
complain that obeying the
law would greatly increase
their costs. •
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