Pubdate: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. Author: David Storey UNITED STATES SEES RISK OF GROWTH IN HEROIN USE WASHINGTON, - The United States on Friday declared that Mexico and Colombia were cooperating in the war against drugs, averting any sanctions against the two main narcotics suppliers to the American market. President Bill Clinton, who has established good relations with the presidents of the two Latin American states, included both in a list of "certified" drug countries whose governments are considered to be doing what they can to stop the trade. "Mexico has become a real partner in our battle against drugs. The law enforcement relationship that exists between the United States and Mexico is strong and growing stronger every day," Attorney General Janet Reno told a news conference. "We are very gratified by the early signs of progress demonstrated by the new government of Colombia... We look forward to working closely with and supporting our Colombian counterparts," she added. Only two countries, Burma and Afghanistan, providers of the bulk of the world's heroin, were "decertified," as they were last year, triggering U.S. economic sanctions against them. Four countries -- Nigeria, Paraguay, Cambodia and Haiti -- were technically judged not to be cooperating, but penalties were waived because of U.S. national interests. For Nigeria, where the United States hopes that democratic change under a new leader will lead to cooperation on drugs, it was a promotion from the "decertified" category. "We do have great respect for and look forward to this nation's transition to democracy. And we anticipate counter-drug progress with this transition," said Barry McCaffrey, the head of President Clinton's anti-drug office. The announcements were part of an annual assessment by the U.S. administration of the world drugs scene, in which it hailed progress in fighting Latin America's coca production in 1998 but warned of a potential surge in heroin use among a new generation of users in Western countries. Under U.S. law the White House is required to certify to Congress annually that major drug-producing and drug-transit countries are doing everything they can to combat trafficking. The White House must impose sanctions on those countries whose efforts are deemed inadequate. These include cutting off all aid except for counter-narcotics and voting against lending to those countries by multilateral institutions. The annual review is deeply resented by the countries under scrutiny, who argue that the certification process does little to stem the voracious demand for drugs in the United States, whose narcotics consumption is the highest in the world. It is also condemned by some anti-narcotics groups and members of Congress as ineffective as they say it is driven more by politics than realities in the drug war. But in its report on drugs the State Department defended the practice, saying it is "the legislative equivalent of an international spotlight that we can focus on corruption". The report said the most encouraging sign in 1998 had been a continued cut in coca production in the Andean countries. The biggest fall was in Peru, once the main coca producer, where cultivation fell by 26 percent over 1997, and Bolivia saw a 17 percent reduction. This cut off a potential 150 metric tonnes of cocaine from the market, the report said. But eradication efforts in those countries squeezed production over into Colombia, already the world's biggest cocaine producer, which saw a 28 percent rise and where the syndicates appear to be building up coca growth in areas controlled by insurgents. Although cautioning advances against the billion-dollar trade were slow and patchy, the report said that "international law enforcement operations have broken up the most notorious of the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels and have forced traffickers to seek out more circuitous transit routes." "Arrests of corrupt officials have increased significantly, including high-ranking military officers in critical drug control positions," it said. The report said the United States faces another potentially serious drug threat from heroin, which it said was "lurking conspicuously in the wings." "The drug trade seems to be counting on a new generation's ignorance of heroin's devastating consequences in order to develop a secure and lucrative market in the Western hemisphere," it said. On Mexico, one of the most politically sensitive parts of the report, the State Department gave a mixed bag of successes and failures by the government, which is hamstrung in its campaign against the lucrative drugs trade by budget constraints and institutional weakness. It said that the number of drug-related arrests and the amounts of heroin and marijuana seized in 1998 were little changed from 1998, while the amount of cocaine seized fell to 22.6 tonnes from 34.9 tonnes. On Colombia, it said: "We are impressed by the new government's commitment to counternarcotics cooperation." "The Antinarcotics Directorate of the Colombian National Police has continued its excellent record of investigations and operations against narcotrafficking operations," it added. "We anticipate that effective cooperation to control the flow of narcotics will continue at all levels as the Pastrana administration takes charge and integrates counterdrug programmes with its peace initiative," it said. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea