A SHIFT IN THE DRUG WAR

Angered by erratic Latin performance in the war against drugs, the American
Congress on its own legislated tough economic penalties.

The initiative may have bought some extra local effort in some Latin places.

More likely, by provoking the nationalism of targeted Latin governments, it
has weakened enforcement. The fact that "certification" exempts the United
States has had a particularly noxious effect, since Latins rightly regard
the burning American demand for their illegal products as the engine
driving the whole drug train.

Which is how Latins, with American help, have now invented a bureaucratic
device known as the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism. Procedurally, it is
a call for annual factual reports on how each of 34 Organization of
American States members is stemming production, trafficking, consumption
and crime.

Politically, it is an attempt to cut the ground out from under American
certification law by itemizing drug war shortfalls without tempting
punishment by the United States. The new tool "creates a new and level
playing field in the evaluation process," says OAS SecretaryGeneral Cesar
Gaviria. "All countries will evaluate all countries."

Most Americans, we would guess, are less interested in evaluation than in
action. Fair evaluation can smooth out some political bumps, but effective
action can slow the flow of drugs.

A good number of American congressmen, moreover, are bound to ask whether
anything with the four-letter-word "multilateral" in it is anything more
than a way for resentful Latin American governments to fend off American
pressure.

Still, the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism, which was being wheeled out
for a meeting of Western Hemisphere anti-drug chiefs in Washington this
week, could make a difference. Anything that can contribute to taming the
drug scourge, especially by cutting the American demand, deserves a try.