Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2001
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2001 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Page: 23A

DRUG WAR DEEMED A FAILURE

Colombian Leader Calls For Review; He'll Meet With Powell Next Week

BOGOTA, Colombia - President Andres Pastrana, one of Washington's closest 
allies in the global war on drugs, called Thursday for a review of that 
struggle, saying it has produced few victories.

"The conclusions are not good," Mr. Pastrana said in a rare talk with 
foreign journalists ahead of next week's visit by Secretary of State Colin 
Powell. "The conclusions are that drugs are still the first-or 
second-biggest business of mankind."

In the wide-ranging discussion in the presidential palace, Mr. Pastrana 
said he still hopes for a negotiated end to Colombia's civil war. He also 
said the United States should re-establish intelligence-sharing with 
Colombia's air force about suspected drug flights, and urged President Bush 
to help organize an international narcotics conference.

"Clearly, we must also make an evaluation - and not only of the policies of 
fumigation and interdiction," Mr. Pastrana said.

He described a global narcotics industry worth $500 billion and said drug 
lords are seeking out new markets in Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Drug use is on the rise in the United States, Mr. Pastrana said. However, 
the White House says the overall number of drug users has dropped.

Washington suspended the practice of helping Colombia and Peru track down 
drug-smuggling flights, using U.S. radar and surveillance planes, after the 
accidental shootdown of a U.S. missionary plane over the Peruvian Amazon in 
April.

Mr. Pastrana said the suspension "has allowed a lot of drugs to pass over 
our territory because there is no control of our air space."

He urged a resumption, saying: "I think we can truly hit the heart of the 
business through interdiction, and not simply through fumigation."

The fumigation of drug plants by U.S.-provided crop-dusters is the linchpin 
of Washington's $1.3 billion counternarcotics policy in Colombia. The 
spraying has been criticized amid allegations it endangers health and the 
environment, and that it hurts peasant farmers who grow coca.

Mr. Pastrana said the United States and Europe should stem the laundering 
of drug money and control the export of chemicals used in Colombia to 
process cocaine.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart