COLOMBIA CALLS FOR DRUG WAR STUDY

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - President Andres Pastrana called Thursday for a
review of the global war against drugs, saying it should extend beyond the
U.S.-backed spraying of drug crops.

Pastrana - who is to meet here with Secretary of State Colin Powell next
week - also said Washington's suspension of joint interdiction of drug
flights with Colombia and Peru "has allowed a lot of drugs to pass over our
territory because there is no control of our air space."

The program was suspended following the accidental shootdown of a U.S.
missionary plane over the Peruvian amazon in April. Pastrana urged the
United States and its allies to establish a policy on interdiction.

"I think we can truly hit the heart of the (drug) business, through
interdiction and not simply through fumigation," Pastrana told a small
group of foreign reporters.

The fumigation of drug crops - mainly coca from which cocaine is made - by
U.S. State Department crop-dusters is the linchpin of Washington's $1.3
billion counternarcotics policy in Colombia, which makes most of the
world's cocaine. But it has come under increasing fire recently amid
allegations it is harmful to humans and the environment.

Pastrana gave no indication that he would backtrack on the spraying, but
said he wanted to focus on coca plantations that are protected and taxed by
leftist rebels and right wing paramilitaries in Colombia.

Speaking with the reporters in the presidential palace, Pastrana said
President Bush should organize an international conference to re-evaluate
anti-drug strategies.

Wiping out drug crops has had some success, Pastrana noted. But he said
high drug demand in the United States and Europe makes the global narcotics
business one of the largest in the world, worth some $500 billion annually.

Pastrana said the conference should look at past successes and "errors" of
the global anti-drug strategy and should also focus on money laundering and
nations that supply chemicals used to process cocaine.