BE WARNED! Choose your drugs with care, or better yet, just stay away from them.

A current batch of Yaba sold in Kampong Som throws manic depressives off the deep

end. The latest victim was a British disc jockey who was taking too many each day.

It was all too much. He trashed his hotel room, shredded his passport, cut up his

credit cards and burnt all his money before taking 30 valium - hoping that he would

not wake up. Fortunately, help was called and French, Australian and British friends

rescued him. As he had received death threats from people whom he had upset during

his dance with the devil, he was hidden in a beach hut for three days of cold turkey

(under medical supervision). Authorities then escorted him up Route 4 to Pochentong

and the safety of a flight for London. He was lucky.

A bit of a short-lived panic at the UN's Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention

the week before last. A package arrived from India with some red powder in it and

a receptionist thought for sure it was a poison attack. She was not happy. Cooler

heads came on the scene and determined that the package had been put in the wrong

pigeon hole at the Post Office and that the red powder, addressed to an Indian guy

living in Phnom Penh, was most likely a fresh batch of curry from the sub-continent.

However, the police were called in to investigate but sources say the powder is "still

under analysis".

Former UNTAC "Governor" of Siem Reap and UN Sec-Gen Representative to Cambodia

Benny Widyono was back in town this week. On the recommendation of the Prime Minister,

Benny was awarded The Royal Order of Sahametrei by King Sihanouk, which is given

"as a token of the special friendship between Cambodia and foreign countries

or individuals". After receiving the award Benny said "I always felt close

to Cambodia, but now I am more than a friend, I am an adopted son."

If you're fed up with this paper and all you do is read this goofball column and

the Police Blotter and then trash the rag, take two minutes to read the article on

page 5 and then ask yourself: "Why is it that the only two hospices in town

where AIDS sufferers can go and die with a few shreds of dignity are run by foreign,

decidedly-Christian organizations?"