U.S., OTHER USER NATIONS BLAMED FOR DRUG TRAFFIC

UNITED NATIONS, June 997Leaders of the world's drug-producing countr
ies today
blamed the illicit drug traffic on consumer nations like the United S
tates
and argued that these countries should bear the cost of limiting dema
nd.

"We need resources, and it must come from the international community
,"
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori told a U.N. narcotics conference.

Prime Minister Denzil Douglas of the tiny Caribbean island nation of
St.
Kitts and Nevis added: "The illicit drug trade is demand driven. How
can we
truly expect small, poor countries such as mine to defeat the wealthy
drug
lords if the rich countries, with their wealth of resources, are
unsuccessful in limiting the demand?"

In opening the 150-nation conference on Monday, President Clinton urg
ed
largely Third World countries that produce the raw materials of drugs
such
as heroin and cocaine and industrial states with enormous numbers of
addicts
to stop "pointing fingers" of blame at each other and join in a conce
rted
effort to reduce illegal drug use.

However, his plea has been ignored by many leaders, particularly thos
e from
Latin American and Caribbean countries where drugs are produced or
transported on their way to the United States. In speech after speech
, they
have asserted that poverty-stricken farmers and others in their count
ries
will keep producing drugs as long as there is a lucrative U.S. market
and
that if the United States wants to halt the trade, it and other wealt
hy
countries must pay the substantial costs involved.

In particular, many have advocated programs that would encourage farm
ers,
through payments and other means of persuasion, to grow alternative c
rops.
Pino Arlacchi, the chief U.N. counternarcotics official, is presentin
g
before the conference a proposal to try such a plan in nine drug-prod
ucing
countries. U.N. officials estimate the cost at between $250 million a
nd $500
million a year for 10 years.

However, U.S. officials have been reluctant to commit to such a progr
am for
a variety of reasons, including opposition to the internal policies o
f some
of the countries involved, the conviction that such crop-substitution
ideas
don't work and the reluctance of Congress to contribute substantial f
unds.

One strong criticism of this U.S. reluctance came today from Colombia
n
President Ernesto Samper, whose relations with the United States illu
strate
the complexity of the fight against illegal drugs. Most of the world'
s
cocaine is produced in Colombia, where drug traffickers reap an estim
ated $5
billion a year in revenue from the United States.

Although the United States contributes to anti-drug programs in Colom
bia,
U.S. officials believe many senior Colombian officials receive paymen
ts from
the traffickers, and even Samper's U.S. visa was revoked two years ag
o
because of evidence that he took $6 million from the Cali cocaine car
tel for
his 1994 election campaign.

At a news conference today, Samper said it was unrealistic to expect
that
Colombian farmers, who can earn 10 times as much from growing coca th
an from
corn, would switch without strong financial incentives.

"If there is no program to offer the peasant, he has no choice but to
resow
coca . . . I hope the U.S. Congress understands this," Samper said.

A9 Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company

Checked-by: "R. Lake"