WAR ON DRUGS

Clinton-Era Colombia Plan Having Little Impact

The Clinton administration initiated Plan Colombia to combat drug
trafficking and cocaine production in Colombia. But five years and $3
billion later, some officials are questioning the worth of the program.

In a dismaying assessment, the New York Times cited a White House
Office of Drug Control Policy report in February, saying, "Key
indicators of domestic cocaine availability show stable or slightly
increase availability in drug markets throughout the county."

The South American country, torn apart by an insurgency, continues to
provide about 90 percent of the cocaine and half of the heroin used in
the United States.

The aerial eradication program pays for more than 80 aircraft to spray
coca fields. Over the years, 1.3 million acres of coca plants have
been sprayed and an estimated 52,000 acres of opium poppy destroyed.
It has come at the loss of three lives and five aircraft shot down by
drug traffickers.

Statistics indicate some early success in reducing the acreage under
cultivation, from about 419,000 in 2001 to 281,580 last year, but that
was virtually unchanged from 2003. The coca harvest has not been
significantly affected mainly because growers have increased
production on remaining fields.

Coca plants can be harvested three or four times a year, and growers
move or simply replant after fields are sprayed with little
interruption in production.

Despite indications otherwise, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
said the policy is working and should not be abandoned. "We can't stop
half way," she said.

Plan Colombia also provides Colombia funds to combat antigovernment
guerrillas who rely on drug profits to pay for they're insurgency, but
much of the country is still in rebel hands.

A congressional delegation is visiting Colombia to evaluate the
program. President Bush has asked for another $734 million for next
year.

The administration will probably get the funding; but absent a
dramatic improvement in the program's effectiveness, Congress will
then have to consider how to better spend the money.