Chicago Tribune Review,
Jan 08, 2005

$700 million effort to combat drugs

DEERFIELD -- Concerned about the rising use of heroin in the Chicago suburbs, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) will travel next week to Afghanistan to launch a $700 million effort to eradicate the production of the drug, which profits Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, Kirk said Friday.

"Al Qaeda may one day earn enough in the heroin trade to purchase nuclear weapons," Kirk said at a news conference in Deerfield.

Representatives from the Illinois State Police, anti-drug advocates and a former heroin addict joined Kirk in promoting the Drug Enforcement Administration's anti-heroin and anti-club-drug programs.

While visiting Afghanistan, Kirk will meet with President Hamid Karzai, who has pledged to reduce the production of heroin in his country.

Kirk also will visit the Netherlands, which along with the U.S. and Belgium signed an International Anti-Club Drug Agreement during a 2003 summit at Wheeling High School. The agreement called for establishing a police squad to focus on synthetic drugs in the Netherlands, where 90 percent of Ecstasy is made, Kirk said.

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