Editorial
Interdiction works

After a welldeserved barrage of criticism for its lukewarm
antidrugefforts in the Caribbean last year, the Clinton administration
sprang to life.

It unleashed an offensive dubbed Operation Frontier Shield in October.

That undertaking which combined the efforts of several federal agencies with
those of Puerto Rico's police properly aimed to suppress much of the drug
trade around that U.S. commonwealth and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Coast Guard head Adm. Robert Kramek said Thursday that many drug traffickers are
moving their operations away from those U.S. territories. Puerto Rico had
become an entry point for about onethird of the illegal drugs mostly
cocaine heading toward the mainland, including Central Florida.

Mr. Kramek went on to suggest that nearly 80 percent of known
drugtrafficking in and around Puerto Rico had been stopped. That isn't a
hard number, because there's no way of knowing the volume of illegal drugs.
Still, based on how much more cocaine is being intercepted, as a percentage
of how much is believed to be
shipped, progress is evident.

The 80 percent level is significant in that some officials cite that
as an indication that the drug war is being won at least on that
specific front. It's necessary to cut off about 60 percent of drug
traffic to affect the price substantially. The price of cocaine in
Puerto Rico has increased nearly 70 percent.

Of course, success against traffickers in and around Puerto Rico and the
U.S. Virgin Islands means that traffickers will shift their loathsome trade
elsewhere.

The Caribbean was a favorite cocaine transit area during the 1980s. After a
U.S. crackdown, most of the trade moved over to Mexico. Intensified interdiction
there meant another move for many drug traffickers back to the Caribbean,
something thatbecame increasingly apparent last year.

In other words, interdiction works. But it cannot be effective in isolation.
Interdiction must be combined with other efforts toensure a comprehensive fight
against drugs.