ANTI-DRUG CHIEF EYES COLLABORATORS

WASHINGTON - The administration's top counternarcotics official
said Monday that he supports Senate-passed legislation to impose
sanctions against foreign individuals and companies who cooperate with
drug chieftains.

Barry McCaffrey, head of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, said U.S. counterdrug strategy has focused too much on
governments and not enough on those who collaborate with drug kingpins.

``It's about time for the United States to stop talking about our
problems with the government of Mexico, Peru, et cetera, and start
talking about our problems with individuals and businesses who are
involved in drug-related crime and hold those people responsible for
their actions,'' said McCaffrey, who recently visited Brazil, Bolivia,
Peru and Argentina.

A House-Senate conference committee will work out the final shape of
the legislation, which would authorize the president to take a series
of measures against foreign companies or individuals linked to the
drug trade.

The sanctions include barring U.S. citizens from doing business with
such companies or individuals and freezing their U.S. assets.

Among the bill's cosponsors are Sens. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., chairman
of the Foreign Relations subcommittee on Western Hemisphere affairs,
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Mike DeWine, R-Ohio.

The legislation expands a 4-year-old presidential order aimed at
Colombian drug traffickers.

The bill has generated concern in Mexico that innocent people could be
misidentified as collaborators with drug chieftains. McCaffrey
acknowledged this was a concern and said safeguards must be written
into the law to prevent such abuses.

Despite his reservations, McCaffrey said he finds the proposal to be
``enormously compelling.''

Under the legislation, the Treasury Department would develop a list
foreign traffickers active in any of the 28 countries listed as major
drug source or drug transit countries. The sanctions would carry
penalties of up to $500,000 per violation for corporations or $250,000
for individuals, as well as 10 years in prison.