U.S. DRUG CERTIFICATION POLICY SHIFTS BLAME

I agree fully with those who claim that the U.S. policy of certification of
foreign countries based on their efforts to combat drugs is hypocritical
and imperialistic. Your editorial "Certified politics" (Aug. 21) helps make
this case by pointing out our unwavering - and unjustified - support of a
major drug-trafficking country such as Mexico.

Yet your conclusion that this ineffective and divisive process should be
preserved and shifted to the Organization of American States rings hollow
and stands at odds with the rest of your editorial. The very concept of
certification, as your editorial points out clearly, shifts the blame from
the largest consumer of illicit drugs to the hapless conduits for their
production and distribution.

No certification program, no matter how independent it may be, can ever
free itself from such a flawed premise. This assumes, of course, that the
United States would agree to allow such an organization to dictate our
economic and foreign policy.

Pointing fingers never will solve the drug problem.

John Corbett, Highlands Ranch, Colo.