U.S. SHIFT IN DRUG POLICY EXPECTED

MEXICO CITY - Washington's unilateral process of "certifying" the
performance of others in the war on drugs is likely to die a natural death
as nations come to see that multilateral cooperation is the best weapon,
the White House drug policy chief said yesterday.

Barry McCaffrey, in Mexico for the eighth bilateral meeting on high-level
cooperation against drugs between the two countries, told foreign
correspondents so-called certification, much hated in Latin America, was
unlikely to disappear any time soon.

But it would lose its relevance as multilateral evaluation played a greater
role and as the focus shifted to lists of businessmen involved in
money-laundering or running cartel front companies under Washington's
Kingpin drug legislation.

"I firmly believe the certification process is slowly disappearing,"
McCaffrey said in a briefing.

Mexican President-elect Vicente Fox, who dealt the Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI) its first general election defeat in 71 years
last month, has said he will press Washington to end certification after he
takes office Dec. 1.

Under certification, the White House each year lists nations deemed to be
cooperating in the fight against the drugs trade. Countries that are judged
to be failing to fight the war can be punished through sanctions.

The annual review is traditionally accompanied by bitter battles in the US
Congress and attacks by lawmakers who say Mexico is riddled with
corruption.

More than half the Colombian cocaine consumed in the United States passes
through Mexico. Mexico is also a major producer of marijuana, a grower of
opium poppies, and significant source of methamphetamines.