Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 Source: El Paso Times (TX) Copyright: 2009 El Paso Times Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/formnewsroom Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829 Author: Diana Washington Valdez ANTI-DRUG FIGHT FUELS VIOLENCE, REPORT SAYS About 90 percent of the cocaine consumed in the United States enters through Mexico, the U.S. government said Friday. The finding was contained in the U.S. International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. Authors of the report commended Mexico for unprecedented cooperation with the United States in the battle against drug traffickers. High levels of violence, though, may be part of the cost of the progress. "The increase in violence may be due to the success of President (Felipe) Calderon's aggressive anti-crime campaign, which has broadly deployed the military in searches and regional security plans, while more effectively using tools such as extraditions," the report said. "This has led to the arrest of important cartel leaders and narrowed the operating space of criminal gangs, who are now fighting among themselves for now-diminishing profits." Under the Foreign Assistance Act, the State Department is required to prepare an annual report for Congress on the efforts of countries to attack all aspects of the international drug trade, including money laundering. The report said corruption continues to present a challenge to Calderon's efforts to rein in the drug cartels. "All this progress, however, comes against a backdrop of continuing high levels of corruption and turmoil within Mexico's security and judicial bodies," the report said. "Corruption throughout Mexico's public institutions remains a key impediment to successfully curtailing the power of the drug cartels." "They are confronting each other and the result is, unfortunately, a significant increase in violence," David Johnson, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement, told The Associated Press. "This is a serious challenge for both the government of Mexico and the United States." George W. Grayson, a senior scholar for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said in an interview that conditions in Mexico do not inspire optimism. "The crackdown has had little effect on cocaine consumption in the United States, even as the price for cocaine has fluctuated between $96 and $119 an ounce, and its purity has declined by 11 percent," Grayson said. "Cocaine use has dropped slightly, but it's because users are switching to synthetic drugs, like methamphetamine, and not because of the crackdown." The report, which tries to provide a global view of the illicit drug trade, said Afghanistan, where U.S. soldiers are deployed, is the world's largest producer of opium poppy, the plant used to make heroin. Other highlights of the report included: As of November 2008, Mexican law enforcement had seized 39,437 illegal weapons. Weapons purchased or stolen in the United States accounted for 95 percent of Mexico's drug-related deaths. Violence has spilled over as evidenced by an increase in contract killings and kidnappings in the United States. Mexico's navy last year seized a self-propelled submarine off the Pacific Coast with 5.6 metric tons of cocaine. The United States, Mexico, Afghanistan, Australia, China, Germany, France, Colombia, Israel and Kenya were listed as countries of primary concern for money laundering. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart