LOCAL DOCTOR QUESTIONS U.S. DRUG POLICY

Dr. Fred Wright looked at the mottled gray stick he brought back from Colombia.

"This is yucca plant defoliation," he said, pointing out the white spots.

Defoliation, or chemical killing of foliage, is one of the
wrong-headed byproducts of the current United States anti-drug policy
toward Colombia, Dr. Wright said. What is supposed to be killing
drug-producing plants, he said, is wiping out rain forests and
sickening people.

The Chattanooga psychologist was one of 21 U.S. citizens who visited
the South American country recently with Witness for Peace. The group
is described by members as a politically independent, grass-roots
organization committed to support peace, justice and sustainable
economies in the Americas.

Dr. Wright said the $1.3 billion aid package Colombia is getting from
the U.S. is being misused. The money is doing little to fight the
illegal drugs flowing out of the country and into the United States
and would be better used in treating addicts in this country, he said.

"We're doing more harm than good," he said.

Instead of pulling out, though, U.S. officials said last week that
there are far more cocaine- and heroin-producing crops in the country
than previously believed. And U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson said
additional training of Colombian army counter-narcotic troops was
planned.

"We think we can do a lot to professionalize the army," she said.

However, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., told the Los Angeles Times he
was afraid the new plan would lead the U.S. deeper into Colombia's
civil conflict.

"What it sounds like is that we may be in the process of erasing the
line between the civil war, the rebel activity and counter-narcotics
initiative. It's not going to lead us in a good direction."

Dr. Wright said Rand Corp. research estimated the $1.3 billion aid
package would reduce drug use 5 percent in the United States, while
the same money put into drug treatment here would cut use 27 percent.

However, Wayne Smith, a Chattanooga resident and former Drug
Enforcement Administration agent in Colombia, said taking money out
of the country and diverting it to treat addicts is unrealistic.

"The problem is you can only treat people who want to be treated," he
said. "Unless a party seriously wants help, all the help in the world
is not going to do any good."

The aid package, signed into law by President Bill Clinton one year
ago this month, also was to assist Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and other
countries, as well as help in other programs. However, 65 percent of
it -- $860.3 million -- was to go to Colombia. Of that amount, 60
percent was to go for military assistance and 14 percent for police
assistance. Only 6 percent was to be spent on human rights, 4 percent
for aid to the displaced and less than 1 percent for peace purposes.

Mr. Smith said the U.S. government has had to start all over again in
Colombia. He said in the 1980s the DEA was "doing a tremendous job"
in assisting, training and motivating local law enforcement officers
there. He said the organization was helping stop shipments of coca,
the crop from which cocaine is made, to the lab and shutting down the
hydrochloride labs, which produce the largely pure cocaine product.
However, he said, President Clinton hired an administrator who wanted
to spend the agency's money domestically.

"Anytime there's a sea change," he said, "it dilutes effectiveness.
So for seven years, we were basically out of business in South
America."

Both Dr. Wright and Mr. Smith said the current situation in Colombia
reminds them of early U.S. intervention in Vietnam, but they differ
on what should be done.

"It's their problem to work out," Dr. Wright said. "This (government
instability) has been going on for 50 years. What started as an issue
of ideology and religion has turned into a problem of power, greed
and money."

Mr. Smith, however, said, "We lost in Vietnam because we didn't have
the fortitude to do what needed to be done. (The government) kept
changing the game plan. That's what is happening to a large extent in
South America."

Things are not perfect in the country, Mr. Smith acknowledged, but he
said it would be worth it if the U.S. aid is 50 percent effective.

"It's foolish to think it won't take some effort to help control the
problems that impact on us," he said. "We know some will fall through
the cracks and buy some general a Mercedes, but 50 percent is a huge
strike."