NEW PLAN MORE OF THE SAME

Throwing good money after bad. Pouring gasoline on the fire. Pick your
cliche. Both fit. The new Bush administration drug policy toward
Colombia, although it sounds as if it might improve on the old one, is
only more of the same.

U.S. administrations -- both Democratic and Republican -- seem intent
on solving the drug problem by pouring money for military and domestic
operations into Colombia and other South American countries.

The $1.3 billion Plan Colombia was approved by Congress last year and
runs until the end of 2001. It relies heavily on military cures. A
third anti-drug battalion is now ready for service and 16 U.S.
Blackhawk helicopters will be sent to Colombia this summer. Other
portions of the plan, such as crop substitution and economic
development efforts, also will be funded.

Bush's $1.1 billion proposal, the Andean Regional Initiative, will
begin in 2002 after Plan Colombia expires. About 46 percent is
earmarked for judicial reform and anti-poverty programs and efforts to
help coca farmers switch to legal crops.

Bush's plan also recognizes that it is a regional problem and provides
money for Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Panama and Venezuela.

But the Bush plan differs most from Plan Colombia in the way the
funding is approved. Plan Colombia was a two-year supplemental program
and will expire. Bush's plan, however, is included in the annual
appropriation process. In effect, it admits that the drug war in South
America is a never-ending conflict.

Such commitment could develop into a quagmire that could involve U.S.
troops. It also runs the risk of financially backing unstable
governments or ones that are not democratic.

For all of the United States' good faith efforts to eradicate or at
least reduce the flow of drugs from South America, the track record is
not encouraging.

According to a recent United Nations report, the coca cultivation in
Colombia increased by 60 percent last year and the acreage under
cultivation is much larger than originally thought.

For all their good intentions and all the money for military
operations and economic help, America's drug problem won't be solved
until the demand drops. That will require as much effort and money on
the home front as it does at the source.

Rehabilitation, drying up drug shipments, better education and a more
realistic approach to the drug problem here are the only weapons that
will eventually help us win this war.