SHIFTING THE U.S. DRUG WAR BACK TO THE HOMEFRONT

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Here in Colombia, the new U.S. film "Traffic" comes
alive with a vengeance. While the movie is based on the Mexican drug trade,
the corruption, kidnappings, terror and frustration of the U.S. war on drugs
are even greater here. Colombia has dozens of drug cartels, two guerrilla
armies, anti-guerrilla paramilitaries, a sometimes inadequately controlled
national army, a deadbeat economy, massive corruption and seriously weakened
democratic institutions. A million people have been displaced, while
thousands are kidnapped and killed every year by competing armed forces.

Add to that an ally, the United States, whose tragically misguided policies
were escalated, though not begun by, the Clinton administration.

Events earlier this month hint at the complexities. Even as U.S.-trained and
supported Colombian military forces swept into cocaine-producing areas
guarded by so-called Marxist FARC guerrillas in the south, President Andres
Pastrana was trying to resuscitate stalled peace negotiations by meeting the
top guerrilla leader, Manuel "Sure Shot" Marulanda, in guerrilla-held
territory farther north. The talks have been called "very productive." If
time proves otherwise, however, Pastrana will likely become the Ehud Barak
of South America -- the reformer whose failures opened the door to more
right-wing forces.

In a perverse way, this nightmare will be good if it forces the new Bush
foreign policy team to step outside the psychological lockbox of previous
administrations. A comprehensive new policy on drugs in particular is
essential immediately. It too will be imperfect but likely better than what
we are doing now. An increasing number of Americans have warned that the
global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug abuse itself.

The much-discussed Plan Colombia, mostly funded with about $1 billion in
U.S. military support for drug eradication, is a well-intended idea, but it
is dishonest and fated to fail. U.S. leaders say the aid is intended only to
fight drugs, but drug dealing and the FARC have fused, and we are in fact
becoming deeply involved in Colombia's decades-old armed conflict.

Washington's response to Colombia's needs and our own security interests
must come in other ways. We cannot strike effectively at the drug problem
abroad without taking the first steps at home. Without this, the crises
abroad will shift location but never disappear.

Since its early years, the drug war has been a failed campaign against human
nature and the laws of economics. When we drove the drug industry
underground, we guaranteed astronomical profits for those people who were
willing to take whatever chances are necessary to benefit from supplying the
product to a large U.S. market.

Our policies of interdiction and eradication stoked chaos in Colombia and
other countries by making the drug business an explosive and highly
profitable illegal operation. Few Americans realize how this war has
decimated people and fledgling democratic institutions here or how current
policies are spreading corruption and violence in neighboring countries.
Informed Latin Americans have futilely voiced their concerns as loudly as
they dare.

If the enormous profits from this massive drug industry were slashed though
some form of "decriminalization" as part of a broader program in the United
States, the level of corruption and violence in Colombia, Mexico and other
countries would become much more manageable. The clout of the drug lords
would diminish, as would the funding of guerrillas and paramilitaries.

Major military support for drug eradication in southern Colombia, as is
under way now, should end immediately along with certification programs. We
should consider whether we want to help bolster the Colombian military in
its fight against the guerrillas. The United States now correctly urges
Pastrana to pursue his "peace offensive." However, without tangible progress
he will be overtaken by Colombian popular frustration before the 2002
presidential election.

A total revamping of the United States' drug war is critical to a successful
Bush administration policy in Latin America, though that policy also must
include stronger support for hemispheric trade, legal reform and more
comprehensive education and alternative crop programs. Failure to treat
these matters with the honesty and seriousness they require will resound
badly in many Latin American countries and become an enormous headache, if
not an outright threat, to the United States.