Pubdate: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 Source: United Press International Copyright: 1999 United Press International PASTRANA WANTS MONEY LAUNDERING TREATY CARTAGENA, Colombia, - Colombian President Andres Pastrana has proposed an international agreement to confiscate the assets of drug traffickers. During the 5th International Conference of the Struggle Against the Production, Trafficking and Money Laundering of Drug Money, Pastrana said the agreement would ``allow all those facing the problem to go after the properties acquired through drug trafficking.'' Pastrana said this year Colombian police destroyed 30,094 acres of cocaine-producing plants and 9,613 acres of poppy, and confiscated 13 tons of pure cocaine, 41 tons of coca leaf and 2 tons of opium, morphine and heroine. In his address, Pastrana said Colombia has ``suffered the hardest consequences'' of drug trafficking, and added, ``The culture of easy money taken by a few and promoted by those who trade in drugs has caused profound scars in our society.'' Before delegates from three countries, the president said, ``On the economic side, the damage this problem has caused us is alarming.'' Pastrana said coca and poppy farms have harmed the environment by affecting huge rain forests that are unique in the world. ``The illegal farming has destroyed more than 1 million hectares of jungle, forests and wide barren plains,'' he said. Pastrana said that drug producers use an estimated 200,000 gallons of herbicide, 16,000 tons of chemical fertilizers and 100,000 gallons of poison to fumigate drug crops, and those chemicals contaminate Colombia's water and soil. - --- MAP posted-by: Rich O'Grady