Chargé Mary Grace McGeehan Remarks Commemorating Lao National Day Against Drugs, Vientiane, October 12, 2006

Treating, rehabilitating, and reintegrating addicts is critical to solving the problems posed by yaa ba. While treatment facilities can play a key role in assisting addicts through the first two steps, reintegration, the most difficult part of the process, cannot succeed without the active participation of the families, neighbors, and communities who are most burdened by this abuse. However, detoxification without effective rehabilitation and counseling, including skills training resulting in jobs for the former addicts, will have little meaning and may lead to greater social and criminal problems.

We consider addict treatment and effective rehabilitation, including for women, to be a priority part of our joint efforts this year. It requires placing trust again in young people whose past behavior merited little confidence, something extremely difficult to do. This is a factor that no facility or program can provide. Only the people of Laos themselves can do this, and the ultimate success or failure of addiction treatment lies in their hands.

Illicit drugs remain a major problem for Laos, but not one that is impossible to overcome. If Laos can create an effective barrier at its borders to the importation of narcotics and amphetamines, this menace can be brought under control. If the roads of Laos are made unfriendly for traffickers, the consequences of large scale illegal transit can be halted. If families and communities pull together, they can take on the challenges posed by amphetamine addiction. Fortunately, the people of Laos do not stand alone in this battle. The U.S. Government will continue to support the Lao people as they grapple with the peril of dangerous drugs, and we call upon other potential partners to do all that they can to help in this fight.