COCAINE CONFLICT

A winning strategy in the war against drugs must begin at home.

Are the millions of dollars that the United States is pouring into Colombia
a massive waste of taxpayers' money? Like the guy in the rental car
commercial says, "Well, not exactly."

There is no unequivocal response. A case can be made for increasing U.S.
assistance to Colombia to decrease the production of coca, the stuff from
which cocaine is made. But there also can be doubt that American taxpayers
have gotten much bang for the megabucks already poured into that endeavor.

In making his case to Congress for a new two-year drug war assistance
package for Colombia, White House drug policy director Barry R. McCaffrey
reported that coca cultivation increased by 140 percent during the past five
years, while actual production of cocaine jumped 126 percent.

That alarming trend, one might argue, provides justification for decreasing
assistance to Colombia. U.S. aid rose from $85.7 million in 1997 to $289
million last year. And cocaine cultivation rose 50 percent while actual
cocaine production increased 20 percent.

The new two-year, $1.6 billion package would include funds for helicopters,
training and equipment for two Colombian anti-drug battalions. The objective
is to provide the Colombians with the mobility, firepower and intelligence
capability to overwhelm the revolutionary insurgents who protect the drug
crops.

That places the United States perilously close to being sucked into a civil
war in Colombia. But according to McCaffrey, that's a necessary risk to keep
increasing cocaine production in Colombia from offsetting the progress made
in curtailing it in Peru and Bolivia.

McCaffrey probably will get most of the funding he is seeking, simply
because there is no other alternative. But this is not a strategy for
ultimate victory.

Only when this country finds a way to lower the demand for illegal drugs
will the traffic in narcotics cease to be a major threat to public health,
safety, economic and social progress, and cultural advancement.