Pubdate: Oct 29, 1999 Source: International Herald-Tribune Copyright: International Herald Tribune 1999 Contact: http://www.iht.com/ Page: 4 Author: Barry James, International Herald Tribune U.S. DRUG CZAR WARNS EUROPE ABOUT COCAINE AND ECSTASY BRUSSELS -- The U.S. drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, warned Europeans on Thursday not to be complacent about the spreading use of cocaine, which he called the "worst thing that happened to the United States' I since World War II Mr. McCaffrey said that in the 1980s cocaine "was widely believed to be safer than alcohol and nonaddictive. " But today, some 3.6 million Americans are chronically addicted to the drug, which is one of the major causes of crime. "We did not understand the danger," he said. He said that while the United States had a serious drug problem that was getting better, the Europeans had a similar problem that was getting worse, partly because of increasing tolerance in many EU countries for drugs like cocaine and Ecstasy, both of which are widely used in the Continent's dance and rave club culture. Mr. McCaffrey, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, was attending the annual meeting of the EU's drug-monitoring agency in Lisbon. He said he would invite the EU "to study the experience of the United States in the 1980s and not repeat our disastrous mistake" over cocaine. Mr. McCaffrey said that during his six-nation tour of Europe, he also was seeking a dialogue on doping in sport. "We are all involved in the Olympic movement," he said, emphasizing that "chemical re-engineering of the human body" had to be outlawed. At a summit meeting in Tampere, Finland, earlier this month, EU leaders decided to step up cooperation in fighting crime and money laundering. Mr. McCaffrey said intelligence sharing and cooperation between U.S. and European law enforcement agencies already was highly effective, but he added that he was calling for broadened trans-Atlantic political cooperation. As the United States tightens the screws on narcotics smugglers, European cocaine seizures have been increasing in each of the past six years. Seizures in the first six months of this year were double the total in 1998. Mr. McCaffrey warned that the success of efforts in the United States to reduce narcotics use -- which he said had dropped by half over the last two decades - meant that organized gangs were seeking to expand markets in Europe. U.S. intelligence estimates a total flow of about 700 metric tons of cocaine from Bolivia, Peru and Colombia this year, with up to 130 tons still looking for a market. Data released by Mr. McCaffrey indicated that police forces were now seizing more cocaine in Europe than along the southwestern U.S. border, the chief entry point of the drug into the United States. Spain was the main entry point for the drug in Europe, with an estimated 57 percent of the total, followed by the Netherlands. Mr. McCaffrey said that in meetings with officials at the European Commission here, he was strongly suggesting that economic aid to Latin American nations seeking to replace coca production with other crops was "the right thing to do." "It is making a difference and it is serving the interests of the EU as well," he added. He said Europe also was a maj source of drugs, such as Ecstasy, which he called an underestimated danger. He said science had proved that a single heavy dose of the so-called recreational drug Ecstasy or a low dosage over time would cause serious brain damage. "This drug is dangerous," Mr. McCaffrey said. The heroin consumed in Europe, on the other hand, comes almost entirely from Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to data released by Mr. McCaffrey's office. Afghanistan not only is replacing Burma as the chief source of illegal opiates, but also has become the main processing center. Most of the heroin is shipped overland to Europe through Iran and Turkey. War in the Balkans has pushed the heroin traffickers northward from their traditional route through Serbia, with the drug now moving through eastern Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Poland before reaching Western Europe through Germany. Russia also has become a market for drugs. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart