SANCTIMONIOUS DRUG SANCTIONS

The big user has a lot of nerve

VICENTE Fox, the underdog who won the Mexican presidency last July, is
making his first visit to the United States since that stunning victory.
He's getting a fitting reception.

First up are meetings with Bill Clinton and Al Gore in Washington today.
George W. Bush will have his turn in Dallas on Friday.

Mexico and the United States have a full menu of challenges before them,
from immigration to free trade. But chief among the agenda points should be
ending this country's arrogant policy of rating the narcotics-fighting
efforts of other nations.

Our so-called ``drug certification process'' is a source of distress across
Latin America. It's an annual exercise undertaken by a country -- us -- that
provides the largest marketplace of illegal drugs in the world. Yet
countries that don't make our grade face a cut-off of U.S. economic
assistance, except for anti-narcotics and humanitarian aid.

This heavy-handedness has done nothing to promote international
collaboration in eliminating the illegal drug trade. Narcotics continue to
flow here despite the nearly $30 billion the United States has spent during
the last 16 years.

Instead, the certification procedure generates hostility. In Latin American
capitals it's viewed as a narrow-minded way to carry out foreign policy.
That undermines U.S. efforts to further democracy, economic development and
human rights in the hemisphere.

Foreign leaders also hate it because the United States dishes out sanctions
unevenly. Take, for example, Mexico. Our southern neighbor is losing the war
on drugs; it's a major source of marijuana, heroin and amphetamines. But the
United States certifies Mexico anyway.

Mexico has benefited from such arbitrariness. Nevertheless, president-elect
Fox wants to change a process that Mexicans and other Latin Americans find
humiliating. ``It's not fair, it's not working, and it doesn't serve a
purpose,'' he told audiences on his recent tour through Latin America.

He and other leaders would like a multinational approach to combating drugs.
As a first step, the Organization of American States has floated plans for
its own evaluation of drug-fighting in its 34 member countries.

For years, the Clinton administration has bemoaned the U.S. drug
certification process as a ``major source of foreign policy friction.'' But
Congress wouldn't revise it. This week's meetings provide our two would-be
presidents with an opportunity to lead a new charge against that resistance.