DRUG WAR CHOICE: GROWER OR USER

Decision In House Frames Fundamental Policy Issue

WASHINGTON -- The war on drugs may approach a moment of truth today.

It is set to happen in room 2359 at the Rayburn Building, when House
Appropriations Committee Chairman C.W. Bill Young of Florida opens a
hearing on an emergency spending bill for fighting drugs in Colombia.

First, the committee will hear about the Republican leadership's new $2
billion plan attacking drug cultivation and trafficking in Colombia and the
Andean ridge, an increase of $428 million over the Clinton administration's
proposal.

Then, members will offer amendments, the most substantial one expected from
California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, who wants to add up to $1.3
billion for treatment of drug addicts in America.

If she offers the amendment as planned, it would mark a rare occasion in
the drug war when decision-makers look at both grower and user, and then
decide how to spend the money.

In Washington, the focus on drugs is almost always on fighting the problem
far from home; only 18 percent, or $3.8 billion, of the national drug
budget is spent on treatment.

To the surprise of many here, members of Congress have challenged the
Colombian plan on a number of flanks. Still, congressional staff believe
that a Republican-White House tandem has enough votes to pass the $2
billion plan.

A Pelosi amendment, the staff members say, would have a slim chance of
passage. The issue of money for treatment will come up again.

Noting the divisiveness in the congressional debate, the Republican leaders
- -- namely House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Benjamin Gilman of
New York, Sonny Callahan of Alabama and John Mica of Florida -- decided
against wholesale changes in the Clinton plan in hopes of holding together
their coalition.

From the start, the White House's original plan -- $1.27 billion in new
funding and $330 million in existing requests -- was criticized by human
rights groups for relying heavily on Colombia's military, which has ties
with outlaw paramilitary groups known to commit some of the worst human
rights abuses in Colombia's long civil war and which are themselves heavily
involved in the drug trade.