U.S. SAYS COLOMBIAN PLAN MUST ADDRESS DRUG DEMAND

WASHINGTON - The State Department official in charge of Latin America
said on Monday that success in the war on drugs in Colombia required
parallel steps to reduce the demand for drugs in the United States.

``We've got to do more than just build more jails,'' said Assistant
Secretary of State Peter Romero, referring to the hundreds of
thousands of people imprisoned in the United States on drug offenses.

``I can't see progress unless we do more on the demand side in the
United States,'' he told business people at a conference organized by
the Council of the Americas. ``I can't guarantee this is going to be
successful.''

But Romero also gave an optimistic assessment of progress on the
ground in Plan Colombia, the Colombian government's $7.5 billion plan
to eliminate cocaine and heroin production and make peace with leftist
guerrillas.

The United States, the largest foreign contributor to Plan Colombia,
is providing helicopters and training to help the Colombian military
fight the drugs trade.

Colombia produces almost all of the cocaine and 80 percent of the
heroin sold on the streets of the United States.

Romero said the government had fielded two newly trained anti-drug
battalions and since December had eradicated 45 percent of the coca
cultivation in the southern province of Putumayo, one of the main
producing areas.

``There has been remarkable progress,'' he said.

But asked about the effect on the price of drugs -- an indicator of
the balance between supply and demand, he said the wholesale price of
cocaine in Colombia was stable.

In neighboring Peru and Bolivia, which produce much smaller quantities
of cocaine, the price has gone down because producers have big
problems bringing it to market, he added.

Romero thanked the makers of the film ``Traffic'' for showing the
corrosive effect the drugs trade has on societies and institutions in
Latin American countries.

Other commentators have interpreted the film as an argument that the
U.S. government is mistaken to concentrate its efforts on the supply
of drugs.