DRUGS IN CUBA

Gillian Gunn Clissold makes a compelling case for expanding drug cooperation
with Cuba [op-ed, Aug. 25]. Such cooperation could improve interdiction of
drug flows in the northern Caribbean and help contain organized crime's
reach in Cuba. A further benefit might be to expand U.S. access to important
players in Cuban society.

As Ms. Clissold suggests, Cuba probably is ripe for penetration by organized
drug mafias.

According to Cuban health authorities, roughly 140 Cubans have sought
treatment for drug abuse in the past year, compared with almost none in the
mid-'90s. In Havana as of mid-1999, cocaine sold for $20 per gram and $7,000
to $10,000 per kilo. In a two-tiered price structure, imported and
domestically grown marijuana sold respectively for $70 and $35 per ounce.

Parts of Havana Vieja (Old Havana) and San Miguel del Padron reportedly have
become virtual free zones for drug dealers.

In the approaching election season, Republicans can rack up political points
by arguing that any antidrug assistance to Cuba shores up and legitimizes
the decaying Communist regime.

Fidel Castro, for his own political reasons, also will resist the most
effective forms of assistance -- such as U.S. naval patrols in Cuban waters
(or at least the right of "hot pursuit"), U.S. training of border guards and
Ministry of Interior operatives on Cuban soil, the stationing of DEA and FBI
contingents in Cuba and joint U.S.-Cuban efforts to monitor suspicious
monetary transactions through the country's financial institutions.

Needed on the U.S. side is a bipartisan consensus that organized crime and
drugs represent far more insidious threats to hemispheric stability than
does Cuban communism.

Castro or his successors, on the other hand, will have to accede to more
intrusive forms of assistance if they want to prevent these manifestations
from getting out of hand in Cuba. If the experience of other drug-infested
Caribbean states is any guide, time is on the criminals' side, not Cuba's.

Rens Lee, McLean

The writer is a consultant on international drug issues.