Source: Waco Tribune-Herald Contact: Pubdate: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 CUT TRAFFICKING Cetification for Columbian counter-narcotics efforts? Cocaine crop eradication? U.S. policy-makers continue ignoring the experts and insist on source eradication as a means of of controlling drug trafficking and use. This tired strategy inevitably fails. One hundred percent of the world's cocaine comes from South America. The coca-growing region of South America is approximately the size of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. What percentage of this land is required to produce the tons of cocaine? A mere one-twentieth of 1 percent of the entire coca-growing region. What about interdiction efforts? Worldwide, 530 metric tons goes undetected. Only 10 percent of all illegal drugs bound for the United States are stopped at the border. The certification process begins with certified idiots: utopian policy-makers in lock-step with warmongering drug cartels. It's time to certify alternative policies of harm reduction and tolerance. These are the truly successful alternatives responsible for reducing trafficking and drug abuse. John F. Wilson, Waco, TX.