UN anti-drug office receives more financial support from Tokyo organization

With a history of contributing as much money as some of the world's biggest donor States, the Tokyo-based Drug Abuse Prevention Centre (DAPC) has presented the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with another $190,000 to help it do its work around the world.

Six Japanese secondary school students presented the latest amount - the DAPC has provided almost $3.9 million since 1994 - to UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa at the Office's headquarters in Vienna.

DAPC raised the funds by collecting money in the streets as well as from civil society and the private sector in Japan, and has committed to maintaining its "No! Absolutely No!" campaign against drug abuse in developing countries until 2008.

In a statement released today, UNODC said the DAPC's contributions are used mainly to give out grants to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fighting the scourge of drugs in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. UNODC estimates that more than 300 grants - ranging in value from $5,000 to $20,000 - have been handed over to NGOs operating in at least 90 countries.