FIGHTING ANOTHER WAR

President Clinton spent a nervous few hours in Colombia last Wednesday,
meeting and talking with that nation's president -- and handing over a
check for $1.3 billion in U.S. aid to one of the world's most violent nations.

Some of that money will be used for badly needed training of government
officials and others in human rights issues. Colombia's civil war has
festered for 40 years. Rebels now control a significant part of the
country. More than 35,000 people have lost their lives; brutal murders are
common. A few days ago government soldiers gunned down a half-dozen school
children, out on a nature hike. The soldiers said they were shooting at
rebels; witnesses tell a different story.

The United States is giving aid to Colombia in the belief -- the hope,
really -- it will help that country stop or slow the flow of narcotics to
this country. This is one of the largest single investments in America's
War on Drugs.

It is unlikely that money will stop the flow of drugs into America. Drug
lords have demonstrated a talent for staying a step ahead of U.S. drug-war
strategists. If the financial aid now being poured into Colombia does stop
or slow the production of heroin and cocaine for American consumption, it's
a safe bet the heroin and cocaine business will shift to another country.
It is rumored that regions in African already are being prepared for the
poppy crops that will provide the heroin American addicts will be using
next year.

The problem in Colombia is not cocaine or heroin, it is that factions on
both side of the civil war depend on growing such crops for financial
strength. And there is a steady demand for narcotics by users in this country.

About the best the U.S. government and the American people can hope for
from the $1.3 billion gift to Colombia is that it could help resolve at
least some of the internal conflict. But some experts warn that putting
more military equipment in the hands of one side in the conflict will
further destabilize an already unstable region. It is unlikely the aid will
make a dent in consumption of heroin and cocaine in the United States. In
fact, many drug experts say the chief result of sending $1.3 billion to
Colombia will be an increase in drug prices in this country.

Several U.S. presidents' administrations have spent tens of billions of
dollars on the drug war, yet the percentage of Americans who use and abuse
narcotics has remained about the same. A federal study released the day
after Clinton traveled to Colombia shows drug use among U.S. 18 to
25-year-olds rose from 14.7 percent in 1997 to 18.8 percent in 1999. It's
like a maddening game -- you push down in one place, only to have another
place pop up. Stop the cocoa crops in Colombia, and they reappear in some
other country. It's a refrain with an echo.

Maybe the $1.3 billion will help Colombia with a four-decade-old civil
dispute, but we shouldn't expect it to solve America's drug abuse problem.
What is the value in scapegoating suppliers, when the real problem lies
with the buyers and users?

We must now wait to see how the Clinton administration's gift to Colombia
plays out. Meanwhile, we need to be thinking of how we can discourage our
neighbors, our friends and our loved ones from diminishing themselves with
narcotics. The most effective war on drugs is the one waged in our own
communities.