SAY NO TO COLOMBIAN AID PACKAGE

Beyond the simple fact that the FARC insurgency predates Colombia's criminal
drug industry, there are many reasons for questioning Barry McCaffrey's
premise that massive military spending in Colombia will reduce the flow of
drugs into the United States. Yet the drug czar is lobbying for $1.7 billion
mainly to attack leftist guerrillas.

The U.S.-inspired Single Convention treaty globalized criminal drug markets
in the '60s; their size and influence were increased after Richard Nixon
declared "war" on drugs in the '70s. The Soviet collapse and subsequent
globalization of trade have stimulated further growth to where criminal drug
markets now corrupt whole nations and threaten regional stability around the
world. Cocaine flowing from destitute Andean nations to the U.S. through a
severely troubled Mexico, and heroin flowing from Afghanistan/Pakistan
through Kosovo into Western Europe are but two examples. That drug revenues
arm insurgencies and repressions alike has been documented repeatedly: in
Burma, Vietnam, Central America and Afghanistan.

American experience with alcohol prohibition showed that the only "control"
of a criminal market is to put it out of business by ending the ban that
created it. Although our present political atmosphere won't permit this
logic to be articulated by anyone seeking political office, one hopes the
Senate won't see our failed drug policy as a valid reason to intensify
Colombia's war.

Even if they run true to form and approve Mr. McCaffrey's proposal, there's
a chance the ensuing humanitarian disaster may provoke rethinking of our
destructive drug policy.

That may be the best reasonable people can hope for.

TOM O'CONNELL, San Mateo, Calif.