WAR ON DRUGS KILLING U.S. ROSE GROWERS

Federal Aid To Colombian Farmers Wilts Cut Flower Industry Here

RICHMOND, Calif. _ Glenn Sugihara is closing the greenhouse doors on his
family's 87-year-old cut-rose business.

His is the latest East Bay nursery to fall victim to the influx of cheap
South American roses, an industry nurtured by the U.S. government to help
Colombia grow flowers instead of producing cocaine and heroin.

Sugihara's rose bushes will be torn out and the greenhouses -- some built
by Sugihara's grandfather in 1913 -- will be leased to Color Spot, the
nation's largest bedding plant grower.

"Emotionally, it has been a hard decision," said Sugihara, a
third-generation grower. "But we have a substantial investment in our
greenhouses and with the current trend of more imported roses coming into
the U.S., we feel we can do a lot better by leasing our property."

America's war on drugs is not denting traffickers' profits, but rose
growers say it is killing their industry.

In the 1970s and '80s, Contra Costa growers sold 22 million cut blooms a
year. In the last decade volume has dropped by half and the number of
nurseries has dwindled from eight to two.

"Rose growers are an endangered species," said Contra Costa Agricultural
Commissioner Edward Meyer. "It's sad because this comes at a time when as a
county and as a nation, we are trying to preserve agriculture and our
heritage."

It is the same story across California, where the number of growers has
plummeted to 50 from 500 just 20 years ago.

California produces two-thirds of all domestic roses.

South American growers pay workers a fraction of what U.S. laborers earn
and are subject to far fewer -- if any -- environmental laws regulating
chemical and pesticide use.

The biggest blow, say rose growers, was the 1991 Andean Trade Preference
Act, which gives Colombian cut-flower producers duty-free access to U.S.
markets and saves growers from 5 percent to 7 percent on sales.

The act is designed to give growers an economic incentive to help offset
the lucrative illegal drug trade.

It has helped Colombia's cut-flower industry. According to industry
reports, six out of every 10 cut flowers sold in the United States are
grown there. It generates $580 million a year in sales and provides 150,000
jobs.

But Colombia's drug trade is flourishing, too.

According to Brent Scowcroft, a national security adviser to former
President Bush, annual Colombian cocaine production doubled between 1995
and 1999. And more than 90 percent of cocaine and 70 percent of the heroin
consumed in the United States originated in Colombia.

Back home, it is the domestic rose growers who are losing money.

Not only are the overseas roses cheaper, but the public demands
foreign-grown blooms because the climate and higher altitudes yield roses
with longer stems and bigger heads.