NEW DRUG CAMPAIGN COUNTERS US POLICY

OTTAWA -- The 34 member countries of the Organization of American States,
including the United States, formally committed themselves to a new
antidrug campaign yesterday that amounts to a direct repudiation of
long-standing U.S. drug policy. Called the Multilateral Evaluation
Mechanism, the agreement sets up a standard report-card system to measure
how each OAS member is faring in the war on illicit drugs. The first report
is due in 2001, when Canada will hold the next Summit of the Americas in
Quebec City.

"There will be one set of rules for all, which gets us away from finger
pointing and unilateralism and conflict and recrimination and punishment
and sanctions," said Jean Fournier, chairman of the working group that drew
up the reporting system during the past 18 months.