END DEMAND FOR DRUGS

President Says Nation Can Do Only So Much

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- On the eve of a visit by President Clinton, Colombia's President Andres Pastrana said Tuesday that Colombia cannot put a dent in international drug trafficking until the United States and other countries do much more to control their people's appetite for drugs.

"Colombia can put a stop to drugs here at some point, but if the demand continues, somebody else somewhere else in the world is going to produce them," Pastrana said in an interview at a restored monastery that overlooks the cannon-studded colonial walls that once protected this port from English and French pirates. "We are already getting intelligence reports of possible plantings in Africa."

"What we are talking about is the most lucrative business in the world," he said, "unless the recent spike in oil prices has made it the second-most-lucrative business in the world."

To be sure, reducing the South American drug trade has proved a difficult and complex matter, and drug-producing nations have long made the same contentions. But Pastrana's wary words seemed to strike a dissonant note, coming just before Clinton's arrival today, when the leaders are to open a $7.5 billion plan to address the spreading trafficking problem in Colombia.

The joint plan aims to cut coca plantings here by 50 percent in five years through a combination of military pressure, plant eradication and social reforms.

Clinton's visit will be the first by a U.S. president in 11 years.

The plan includes $1.3 billion in aid to train and outfit a Colombian anti-drug brigade to support police efforts in eradicating coca and in halting the processing and shipment of coca and cocaine in two southern provinces that are largely controlled by Colombia's largest guerrilla group.

Regional leaders have expressed fears that the plan will widen the guerrilla war and spill refugees and coca plants across the Brazilian, Ecuadorean and Peruvian borders. Clinton and Pastrana will attempt to counter those concerns with clear public commitments for more alternative agricultural development and with relief for coca growers who lose their illegal livelihoods.

Clinton tried Tuesday to ease local concerns about U.S. intervention in a videotaped message to Colombians. "Please do not misunderstand our purpose," he said. "We have no military objective. Let me be clear about the role of the United States. First, it is not for us to propose a plan. We are supporting the Colombian plan."

As a former television journalist and the son of a former president, Pastrana has a casual charisma. But rising unemployment and stalled peace talks with Marxist rebel groups that control large chunks of the nation where the drug industry is spreading have made him an unpopular president. It is not easy to be optimistic in a country where the government has lost control of half of its territory, 2 million people have been displaced and parents with means buy bulletproof vests for their children.

He said he was confident that the guerrillas could be persuaded to negotiate a peace and even to encourage volunteer eradication of coca crops by peasant farmers.

He also said the United States should play a more active role in the peace efforts, to encourage the guerrillas to join the fight against drugs. State Department officials met with leaders of the country's largest guerrilla group two years ago in Costa Rica, but all contacts were broken after rebels killed three Americans last year and refused to turn over any suspects.