• Cambodian authorities have destroyed over seven tons of illicit drugs and ingredients.
• 4.1 tons of the destroyed substances were drugs like heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, ecstasy and ketamine.
• Gen. Meas Virith said the destroyed drugs had a wholesale value of $22.7 million and a street value of nearly $70 million.

Cambodian authorities on Friday destroyed more than seven tons of illicit drugs and the ingredients for them, as a drug-fighting official said educating people about their danger is the best way of combating the illegal trade.

Some 4.1 tons of the destroyed items were drugs including heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, ecstasy and ketamine that had been confiscated from traffickers across the country, the National Authority for Combating Drugs said. The remaining 3.2 tons were various chemicals and other ingredients used to produce illegal drugs, it said.

Gen. Meas Virith, secretary general of the drug-fighting agency, said the drugs that were burned in a brick kiln at a ceremony on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, had an estimated wholesale value of $22.7 million and a street value of nearly $70 million. Had they not been seized, they could have harmed millions of people, he said.

CAMBODIA’S PIONEERING POST-KHMER ROUGE ERA PHNOM PENH POST NEWSPAPER WILL STOP PRINT PUBLICATION

He said the best way now to fight illegal drugs is by educating Cambodians from all walks of life about the dangers they pose. To teach people not to use or traffic illicit drugs is better than just cracking down on those criminally involved, he said.

“As you are aware, if we use only crackdown measures, then we need to do so repeatedly. Let’s say this year we burn these things, and next year we will do it again,” he said. “But if we invest in drug education, awareness and protection, then drug activities would be reduced.”

Meas Virith said the authorities pursued more than 3,800 drug-related cases in the first five months of this year, arresting more than 10,000 people, including foreigners.

The production and trafficking of synthetic drugs, especially methamphetamine, are at record highs in Southeast Asia and pose a major threat to its societies, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

“Seizures of crystal methamphetamine have increased year-by-year in Cambodia for the seventh year in a row, reaching over 1.4 tons in 2023, showing the ongoing expansion of the market for the drug in the country,” the U.N. agency said in a report last month.

“The amount of heroin seized doubled in 2023. This increase in heroin seizures was observed in multiple countries in East and Southeast Asia, possibly indicating a reinvigoration in the heroin market in the region after declining seizures the previous year.”

Pope Francis has addressed leaders at the G7 Summit in southern Italy, the first pontiff to do so. 

Speaking at a special roundtable, the Pope challenged them to keep human dignity foremost in developing and using artificial intelligence, warning that such powerful technology risks turning human relations themselves into algorithms.

“Faced with the marvels of machines, which seem to know how to choose independently, we should be very clear that decision-making, even when we are confronted with its sometimes dramatic and urgent aspects, must always be left to the human person,” he said.

“We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives, by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines.”

Francis brought his moral authority to bear on the Group of Seven, invited by host Italy to address a special session on the perils and promises of AI.

In doing so, he offered an ethical take on an issue that is increasingly on the agenda of international summits, government policy and corporate boards.

Francis said politicians must take the lead in making sure AI remains human-centric, so that decisions about when to use weapons or even less-lethal tools always remain made by humans and not machines.

He also took a swipe at autonomous weapons, saying it should never be left to machines to decide whether or not to kill a person.

“Allow me to insist, in light of the tragedy that is armed conflict, it is urgent to reconsider the development and use of devices like the so-called ‘lethal autonomous weapons’ and ultimately ban their use. This starts from an effective and concrete commitment to introduce ever greater and proper human control. No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being,” he said. 

The G7 final statement largely reflected his concerns. Leaders vowed to better coordinate the governance and regulatory frameworks surrounding AI to keep it ‘human-centered.’

At the same time, they acknowledged the potential impacts on the labour markets of machines taking the place of human workers and on the justice system of algorithms predicting recidivism.

“We will pursue an inclusive, human-centred, digital transformation that underpins economic growth and sustainable development, maximizes benefits, and manages risks, in line with our shared democratic values and respect for human rights,” they said.

By attending the summit, Francis joined a chorus of countries and global bodies pushing for stronger guardrails on AI following the boom in generative AI kickstarted by OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot.

On the weapons issue, G7 leaders said they recognised the impact of AI in the military domain “and the need for a framework for responsible development and use.” They encouraged states to make sure “military use of AI is responsible, complies with applicable international law, particularly international humanitarian law, and enhances international security.”