DRUGS WAR JUST 'AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY'

One of the stranger moments in yesterday's United Nations drug summit came
as it ended with the adoption of an ambitious plan to slash the supply and
demand.

"Fraternal greetings from all growers of coca poppy and marijuana in
Columbia," declared Omayra Morales, a member of the Andean council of coca
leaf producers, outside the general assembly,while inside presidents, prime
ministers and other dignitaries spoke of the need for urgent action.

Mrs Morales portrayed the war against drugs as an exercise in futility.
Four years ago, she said, the Columbian government said it would end coca
cultivation within two years. Coca was then being grown on 100,000 acres.
Today's figure was 250,000 acres.

Fumigation of coca fields, Mrs Morales said, had only forced growers deeper
into the Amazon region. "There have been many protests and demonstrations,"
she said. "In response, there has been a military offensive against the
leaders of the protests."

She added: "Fumigation with herbicides is a violation of the norms that say
we can protect the environment."

Mrs Morales provided a human reminder that the war against drugs is not
going well. Since 1961, UN drug control strategies have put eradication of
illegal opium centre stage. Yet according to the Lindesmith Centre, an
institution backed by the financier George Soros, opium production is
rising sharply. Coca cultivation has doubled since 1985, according to UN
figures, and drug prices are falling.

Critics of the UN approach warn that eradication efforts will lead to
greater deforestation without reducing supply. Coletta Youngers of the
Washington Office on Latin America said the United States was "addicted to
failed policies".

[The?] Non-governmental organisation says the increasing use of the
military against drugs will undermine democratic rule in Latin America and
lead to human rights abuses.

Some UN officials yesterday criticised efforts to stamp out drug supply.
"Such policies have had no effect on supply, and crop substitution does not
work without the development of markets and infrastructure like
transportation," said one. A European diplomat was more scathing: "What a
farce. I've never heard such platitudes."

But others pointed to the value of discussing other key issues such as
money laundering.

Although the summit ended with the adoption of an ambitious plan to cut
supply and demand,it remains to be seen whether countries will come up with
the hard cash to fund the proposal.

It was advanced by Pino Arlacchi, former Mafia fighter and head of the UN
International Drug Control Programme, who puts the cost of the plan at
between UKP2.5 billion and UKP3 billion during the next 10 years. That is
well above current funding levels; his programme received UKP100 million in
1998-99.

The proposal calls for tighter international controls on chemicals that go
into making the finished product, and better tracking of money laundering.

He also wants to offer farmers alternative development schemes so they can
substitute other crops such as rice and coffee, for drug plants.

President Bill Clinton,who said people must "wage this fight around the
world and around the kitchen table", did not put any more money on the
table for the programme. General Barry McCaffrey,the US drug tsar, was
lukewarm about the Arlacchi plan, saying it was too soon to talk about
money.

Washington will almost certainly refuse to give money to at least two
opium-growing countries, Burma and Afghanistan, because of their repressive
regimes.