DOUBTS ABOUND ON ADMINISTRATION'S COLOMBIA DRUG POLICY

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Clinton administration's plans to pour another $1.6
billion into drug eradication in Colombia came under fire Tuesday from
skeptical members of Congress, who said they fear deepening U.S. military
involvement battling the Andes narco-guerrillas.

Members of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice
noted both cocaine and heroin production in Colombia is skyrocketing in
spite of the $600 million in U.S. aid poured into the country from 1990 to
1998. They questioned whether more than doubling assistance -- and
providing new funding to a corrupted Colombian military - will have any
lasting impact.

"We're just being drawn deeper and deeper into the civil war there," said
Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii.

She said Colombia is now the source of 80 percent of the cocaine and 75
percent of the heroin coming into the United States, and there's no sign
Colombia's government can stop it anytime soon, even with additional
American aid.