ALL EYES ON FOX, DEA OFFICIAL SAYS

Next Mexican Chief's Drug Stance Awaited

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is "cautiously optimistic" about
the commitment of Mexican President-elect Vicente Fox to tackle the twin
problems of drug trafficking and corruption.

At the same time, however, DEA Administrator Donnie Marshall said yesterday
that he was "not happy with the results we have seen out of Mexico."

"They have not been able to really dismantle any of the major drug
trafficking organizations on their own," Marshall said.

In a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with the Union-Tribune
editorial board, Marshall said the DEA will watch closely to see how Fox,
who takes office Dec. 1, responds to U.S. efforts to extradite major
Mexican drug traffickers.

"I think the real measure of whether we're going to be successful in
dismantling these Mexican cartels is the arrest of the leadership and their
extradition back to the U.S.," he said.

"I think it (extradition) is the real watershed which will determine
whether or not they will have any real, substantial or lasting success
against these drug cartels in the foreseeable future."

Extradition "would send shock waves through these (Mexican drug) cartels,"
Marshall said.

"It would send a message that they are no longer immune to arrest and
prosecution in Mexico," he said.

Marshall said he met with Fox briefly after Fox's victory in Mexico's
presidential election last summer. The president-elect seems sincere about
taking on the drug traffickers and the corruption they generate, Marshall
said, but Fox faces "an uphill battle."

Mexico's willingness to extradite suspected drug cartel leaders to the
United States will be crucial in battling the cartels such as the Arelleno
Felix organization, based in Tijuana, Marshall said.

Marshall also said he favors the annual certification of countries as
allies in the U.S. "war on drugs," a process that has angered Mexico City
for years. The certification process determines whether countries qualify
for U.S. aid in combatting narcotics, based on the country's own anti-drug
efforts.

"I think it's a useful tool," he said, citing Colombia as one country where
certification had worked.

"Colombia has made some substantial progress over the last few years," he
said. "I think certification served to keep pressure up on Colombia, and
they made progress that they would not have made quite as quickly or
dramatically without certification.

Marshall said he was interested in recent Mexican media reports that the
Arellano Felix organization has had contacts with Colombian rebels who
control areas where raw materials for drugs are cultivated, but said he did
not know whether the reports were true.

Closer to home, Marshall took a dim view of California's passage last week
of Proposition 36, saying it was part of an organized and well-financed
effort to "soften the image of drugs."

Marshall included campaigns for medical uses of marijuana and industrial
hemp as examples of such efforts.