Weary White House wants to change drug strategy
U.S. would no longer "certify" allies' efforts

BY CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
Mercury News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON After years of trying to bully or buy Latin American
cooperation in the fight against drugs, the Clinton administration is laying
the groundwork for a humbler, gentler strategy.

If Congress goes along, the policy shift could end the controversial process
by which Washington ``certifies'' the performance of its allies. It also
could lead to more joint training and shared responsibilities with Latin
American states and renew the push to curb drug demand at home.

For some drugwar veterans, the change is long overdue. Since 1981,
Americans have spent more than $25 billion for foreign interdiction and
programs to curtail drugs at their source. But foreign drugs are cheaper and
more accessible in the United States than two decades ago, and a study by
RAND Corp. found drug treatment programs are more than 20 times more
costeffective than suppressing supply.

``It's been my view for decades that the source of the American drug problem
is right here in the United States,'' said Mathea Falco, president of Drug
Strategies, a nonprofit institute in Washington, D.C.

But to others, the changes which will be discussed during a twoday State
Department conference beginning today represent a disastrous retreat. By
embracing a ``multilateral'' strategy, the Clinton administration
acknowledges the failure of a ``big stick'' approach that measures allies by
acres of crop eradication, the size of drug seizures and the number of drug
lords jailed, critics say.

``You can have all the joint task forces and multilateral committees in the
world, but unless you stop the drugs coming across the border, that's the
only measure that matters,'' said Susan Kennedy, spokeswoman for Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, DCalif.

Analysts say two factors have contributed to the change in administration
thinking:

Congress' bruising debates each year over whether the White House should
certify Mexico as an antinarcotics ally.

The rise in White House influence of Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the chief of the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. ``I don't think the U.S.
can unilaterally direct a war on drugs,'' said McCaffrey, a fourstar
general who has been quick to abandon combat tactics he sees as failed since
he became drug czar last year.

Among the changes under consideration is eventually eliminating the
certification process. Instead, the Organization of American States, the
35nation forum, might monitor antidrug and moneylaundering strategies.
Such a change would take an act of Congress, and many lawmakers are
reluctant to surrender a valued point of leverage, especially to the OAS.

Despite evidence of spectacular drug corruption in Mexico, the
administration has refused to ``decertify'' Mexico, an action that would
expose it to economic sanctions, including a loss of U.S. aid. Washington
wants to work with Mexico to expand trade and bolster democratic reforms.

This year, Mexico won the administration's blessing even as that nation's
drug czar, Gen. Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo, came under U.S. fire for being in
the pay of drug lords.

Mexico hasn't taken such lumps quietly. Shortly before a visit to the White
House last month, Mexico's President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León blasted
the certification process. He questioned Washington's moral authority to
judge other nations when U.S. demand for drugs corrupts Mexico's
institutions.

``They still want to certify us,'' Zedillo told Mexican reporters. ``They
should indemnify us for the filthy mess they leave us.''