OAS RELEASES NATION-BY-NATION REPORT CARD ON DRUGS

Most of the Western Hemisphere's 34 nations must strengthen their drug
prevention efforts, determine how many citizens use illegal drugs and
assess how much it costs to fight drug use, an international report says.

The White House welcomed the nation-by-nation report card on drug policies,
issued Thursday by the Organization of American States.

"It will become increasingly apparent to policy people in the hemisphere
that our national interests are better served by this evaluation mechanism
than by a system based on confrontation," said Edward H. Jurith, acting
director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

U.S. and Latin American officials hope the OAS study, known as the
Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism eventually will replace the U.S. drug
certification system, under which the United States annually judges other
nations on their cooperation in fighting drugs. Under that system, those
seen as not doing enough face sanctions.

That process has infuriated Mexico and other nations that view it as an
assault on their sovereignty. They also say it's hypocritical, since the
United States is the leading consumer of illegal drugs.

"This is a totally different process from that of certification," OAS
Secretary General Cesar Gaviria said Thursday. "It will have a lot more
legitimacy because it's a result of the work of a lot of nations."

The "environment of cooperation probably will get more results than the
environment of sanctions," Gaviria said.

Among the main U.S. advocates of the OAS study is Barry McCaffrey, Jurith's
predecessor.

But the certification process could not be changed without Congress'
approval, and some lawmakers expressed skepticism about the multilateral
system.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Caucus on
International Narcotics Control, last year said the OAS system "looks like
it could be a gimmick to water down accountability, and nobody needs that."

Among the report's recommendations:

- -25 of 34 Western Hemisphere nations must strengthen their drug prevention
efforts.

- -28 nations must implement a system to estimate drug consumption.

- -29 nations must develop the ability to estimate the cost of their drug
problem.

Among the report's findings:

- -In Bolivia, the area of coca cultivation dropped more than 60 percent from
1998 to 1999.

- -In Colombia, authorities more than doubled the amount of coca leaf seized,
from 338.5 tons to 710 tons between 1999 and first part of 2000.

- -In Mexico, authorities said 121,272 acres of marijuana and poppies were
eradicated and five heroin laboratories were destroyed.

- -In Panama, authorities reported 979 arrests for drug offenses in 1999, but
data on prosecutions was unavailable.

- -In Peru, authorities said the total amount of coca grown has dropped 66
percent in past 4 years. However, an estimated 30 percent of the coca
cultivation areas abandoned in the Apurimac River Valley were rehabilitated
and new coca cultivation has started in the nontraditional regions of
Manati River/Santa Clotilde, San Pedro and Atun Quebrada.

- -In Venezuela, authorities said 13.4 tons of cocaine and 14.4 tons of
marijuana were seized in 1999. But only 15 percent of those charged with
drug trafficking or possession were convicted.

The report will be given to hemispheric leaders at their next summit April
20-22 in Quebec, Canada.