MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Regional News.

Headlines:
Antarctic Institute in Punta Arenas; Illegal drug use down in Chile

Antarctic Institute in Punta Arenas

As of next week the Chilean Antarctic Institute, INACH, main offices will be operating from Punta Arenas following an executive order from President Ricardo Lagos.

INACH will be moving from Santiago to temporary installations in Punta Arenas for a period of two years after which it expects to occupy a complex of several buildings currently under construction in the Magallanes University campus.

By making effective the decision to move INACH, President Lagos will be honouring a long standing promise to the population of Punta Arenas which in practical terms is the gate to Chilean activities in Antarctica.

However not all civil servants are pleased with having to move from the capital Santiago to the extreme south of the country and with this in mind the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has opened an "exchange job" request list among central government staff that should help ease transition.

INACH's two first blocks, one for administrative offices and a second for storage and work shops should be ready by the end of 2004.

The construction of another two blocks to host visitors and for the research laboratories is programmed for delivery by 2006, pending funds yet to be approved by Congress. The whole relocation operation is estimated will demand almost four million US dollars.

But INACH authorities believe that with the Foreign Affairs Ministry lobbying and contributions from the Regional Council of Magallanes, the 2006 date line will not suffer major delays.

Illegal drug use down in Chile

The use of illegal drugs among Chileans fell last year compared to 2000, the first such decline since data began being compiled on a regular basis, officials said Thursday.

A study conducted by the National Drug Control Committee (Conace) found that 5.68 percent of Chileans aged 12-64, or some 476,000 people, admitted to using illegal drugs in 2002, compared to 6.44 percent two years earlier. The Conace survey has been conducted every two years since 1994.

The 2002 edition is based on a sample of 16,476 people living in cities with populations greater than 30,000.

The greatest drop in drug usage was noted among 12-18 year olds, Conace director Maria Teresa Chadwick said.

"It is encouraging that the country has begun to become aware of this problem," Chadwick said, noting however that "it is still too soon to claim victory."

Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza remarked that the study results would encourage the government even further to continue "its fight against this scourge." "We have to keep focused and continue laboring so that the data become a long-term trend," Insulza said. According to Conace, talk of a downward trend in drug usage will have to wait until 2008 for confirmation.

The study found that marijuana use was down, while cocaine usage had risen slightly, from 1.52 percent of the sample population in 2000 to 1.57 percent last year.

In addition, the greatest drug usage was found in the Valparaiso district, with 8.3 percent, followed by the metropolitan Santiago are with 7.6 percent.