GROWING EMERGENCY

Drugs at the heart of Colombia's plunge toward anarchy

The news from Colombia has been relentlessly disturbing. The United
States' ability to affect the outcome of Colombia's crisis is limited,
and the choices are unpalatable

Colombia's democratically elected government has lost control of much
of the country to rebels and drug traffickers who are increasingly
difficult to tell apart. Five U.S. Army soldiers died last month when
their anti-drug reconnaissance plane crashed, reminding Americans that
300 U.S. military advisers are exposed to danger in Colombia.

Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug policy chief, says there is no
possibility that the United States will intervene militarily in
Colombia, but he warns that "inadequate attention has been paid to a
serious and growing emergency." The United States, he says, can
increase training and logistical support for Latin America's anti-
drug elements, accepting the unpleasant reality that the drug
producing countries lack adequate law enforcement and judicial
firepower, or the United States can do nothing and watch as democratic
gains in South America are eroded by narco-trafficking and anarchy.

While the United States will never win the misnamed "war on drugs," it
has made progress in controlling the epidemics of drug use that damage
every U.S. community, McCaffrey said during his recent visit to
Houston. Unfortunately, 6 million Americans remain addicted, most of
them sick and in trouble with the law, or about to be.

Now that South American countries face growing addiction among their
populations, the division between drug producing countries and drug
using countries has diminished. This provides an opportunity for
greater cooperation among governments in the Western Hemisphere, and
threatens dire consequences if that cooperation is not
forthcoming.