SENATOR OFFERS US-MEXICO DRUG PLAN

As President Bush prepares to visit Mexico, a key senator is proposing
relaxing one of the biggest sore spots in U.S.-Mexican relations: drug
certification.

The proposal, expected Thursday from Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the
Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, would change the process
to focus more on countries with poor records in fighting drugs. That would
spare other countries, presumably including Mexico, what they see as
humiliating annual critiques.

" We can improve the process, keep accountability, but still remove some of
the elements that have given everyone so much heartburn, " Grassley,
R-Iowa, said in a statement Wednesday.

Grassley has been one of the biggest defenders of certification and has
opposed efforts by other lawmakers to eliminate or change the process. With
his proposal, he raised hopes that an agreement could be worked out on the
issue.

" It' s a significant and constructive development, " said Marvin Fast,
spokesman for Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who has sponsored a bill to
eliminate certification. But Fast noted Dodd has not seen the proposal and
doesn' t know if it addresses all his concerns. " The devil is in the
details, " he said.

A strong supporter of certification, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., hasn' t
reviewed Grassley' s proposal closely enough to take a position, but it
seems like a " pretty good" idea, said Roger Noriega, a senior staffer on
Helms' Foreign Relations Committee.

For 14 years, Congress has required the president to certify annually which
countries are cooperating in the fight against drug trafficking. Those
considered not to be doing enough can be " decertified" and face possible
sanctions.

The process has infuriated many countries, most notably Mexico, that view
it as a condescending and hypocritical exercise by the nation that is the
world' s largest consumer of illegal drugs.

Lawmakers have become increasingly skeptical about the certifications'
effectiveness and worried that the hard feelings it causes might undermine
drug cooperation.

After last year' s election of President Vicente Fox, who ended Mexico' s
governing party' s 71-year hold on the presidency, Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison, R-Texas, proposed exempting Mexico from the certification
process for one year. She plans to reintroduce similar legislation Thursday.

Grassley and other supporters of certification argue that certification is
an effective tool and contend it' s reasonable to expect that U.S. trading
partners and beneficiaries of U.S. aid help fight drugs.

Under existing law, the president must prepare a list by Nov. 1 of major
drug producing or transporting countries. He must decide by March 1 whether
to certify them.

Grassley is proposing that the Nov. 1 list include only countries that
violate international drug enforcement standards. If they fail to improve
by March 1, they could be decertified.

" My bill preserves certification' s main intent, gives the president a
more useful tool, and addresses the main concerns of some of our major
allies and friends over how it works, " he said.

But some of certification' s critics may feel that Grassley' s proposal
doesn' t go far enough. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, wants the certification
program eliminated, said his spokesman, Larry Neal.

" Senator Gramm decided quite some time ago that the certification process
is simply too flawed to function, " he said.