BOTH SIDES SUGGEST CHANGES IN MEXICO DRUG CERTIFICATION

With the U.S. drug certification of Mexico due March 1, officials from both
countries are calling for changes in the process that generates bilateral
tensions each year.

"The United States should drop the (certification) process," said Jose
Garcia, director of the Latin America Studies Center at New Mexico State
University in Las Cruces.

He said the Bush administration needs to take a good look at the drug issue
before deciding what it wants to do next in the nation's "war on drugs."

President Bush has yet to name a new drug czar or reveal his drug policy
for the nation.

Under a congressional mandate, the U.S. State Department must review
Mexico's drug-fighting efforts each year. If those efforts are viewed as
inadequate, the U.S. government can impose economic sanctions.

"We probably need a national debate on it," Garcia said. "We also need to
take a more multinational approach to the problem, and we should put the
$1.3 billion funding for Colombia on hold."

U.S. officials say Colombia is the principal source of cocaine that is
smuggled into the United States through Mexico. President Clinton approved
a $1.3 billion aid package to help Colombia deal with the problem more
effectively.

The situation is complicated by reports that Colombian rebel forces use
narcotics to finance guerrilla warfare. Critics of the U.S. funding package
say the money instead could be used to arm the country's military in an
escalating battle against rebel forces.

Last September, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, introduced a bill
to suspend the certification process for Mexico this year. She reasoned
that Presidents Bush and Vicente Fox -- both relatively new presidents --
need more time to work out their anti-drug strategies.

Fox has said he wants the United States to terminate the process.

That measure got sidetracked with the presidential election, but Hutchison
plans to gather co-sponsors and reintroduce it next week, said her
spokeswoman, Lisette McSoud.

Some lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, favor doing
away with certification.

"It's a process that has outlived its usefulness," Reyes said. "We ought to
spend more effort on solutions that are conducive to better cooperation
with Mexico."

In the bigger picture, Reyes said, the fight against drug-trafficking
should include three elements: education aimed at prevention, treatment and
law enforcement.

"We will make an impact if we persevere," he said.

U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, said that while he favors keeping the
certification process, he is open to reforms.

Certification has served mostly as a political tool to pressure Mexico into
doing more to combat drug-trafficking within its borders. Barring any
last-minute postponement, the State Department plans to meet its March 1
deadline, officials said.

As recently as last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell told ABC's Cokie
Roberts in an interview that "at the moment, it's the law of the land, and
we have to act consistently with the law of the land."

Garcia said the United States and Mexico need "a solid analysis" of their
anti-drug strategies before embarking on new bilateral policies.

Drug Czar Search

Barry R. McCaffrey, the previous drug czar, stepped down late last year as
director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Three people have been mentioned as possible successors: Rick Romley,
Maricopa County attorney in Phoenix; James R. McDonough, Florida's first
state drug policy coordinator; and U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., who was
on the House judiciary, banking and financial services and permanent select
committee on intelligence.

Under McCaffrey, the Office of National Drug Control Policy maintained that
if the country was to reduce its drug consumption, then prevention and
treatment should be emphasized as much as law enforcement and international
cooperation.

"Drug abuse is preventable," McCaffrey said in the introduction to the
National Drug Control Strategy 2001 report recently posted on the drug
policy office's Web site. "We remain committed to the strategy that focuses
on shrinking America's demand for drugs through prevention and treatment
while attacking the supply of drugs through law enforcement and
international cooperation."

The drug czar's office has quantified successes in prevention and treatment
programs, especially in declining rates of drug abuse among youths.
However, local and federal law-enforcement officers report that large
quantities of illegal drugs from Mexico continue to invade the El
Paso-Juarez border.

New Drug Office

During his last visit to El Paso, McCaffrey said the main office of the
Southwest High Intensity Drug-Trafficking Area in San Diego was going to be
moved to El Paso. He said the move was intended to increase coordination
among law-enforcement agencies in the border region.

The announcement troubled some El Paso law enforcement officials who viewed
it as an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy, but national High Intensity
Drug-Trafficking Area Director Kurt Schmid said the move was "a done deal."

Schmid said Friday that El Paso was chosen for the move because it is the
geographic center of the border. The new director of the Southwest High
Intensity Drug-Trafficking Area will act as the contact person between the
drug policy office and the regional coordinating law-enforcement groups, he
said.

"It's my understanding that the executive committee was preparing the job
notification for the new (El Paso) director," Schmid said.

The Southwest High Intensity Drug-Trafficking Area executive committee,
which voted last year to eliminate the office when it was in San Diego, has
not acted on the new office for El Paso, said committee chairman Jack
Kelly, U.S. Customs Service special agent-in-charge.

Kelly said the committee wants to consult with the new drug czar before
proceeding "to make sure we're all in concurrence with his or her"
policies. He also said "the jury is still out" on whether the executive
committee wants to proceed with plans to open the new Southwest High
Intensity Drug-Trafficking Area office in El Paso.