STOPPING ILLICIT DRUGS IS STILL UPHILL BATTLE, REPORT SHOWS

WASHINGTON - Twenty years after a federal law took effect authorizing the
United States to penalize countries that do not control illicit narcotics
production, the same countries, by and large, are producing large
quantities of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other drugs, according to the
State Department's annual drug-trafficking report, published Friday.

The United States has been providing anti-narcotics aid to more than a
dozen nations for more than two decades - roughly $1 billion a year in
recent years. Each year the government reports large-scale eradication of
crops and seizures of illicit drugs. But this year, as every year, reports
of progress are overwhelmed by the weight of the problem.

For example, the State Department said in 1985 that in Peru, one of the
world's largest producers of coca leaf and cocaine products, the government
had eradicated 7,500 acres of coca plants, which are used to make cocaine,
but that narcotics trafficking was nonetheless "flourishing."

The new report says Peru eradicated almost 25,000 acres of coca in the last
year but acknowledged that "dense coca cultivation is increasing."

"The trend lines are good," insisted Assistant Secretary of State Robert B.
Charles, referring specifically to the last few years. "We are making
steady progress in pushing it down."

The report also showed that opium poppy production was expanding in
Afghanistan, despite the presence of United States troops there for more
than two years. Opium poppy production tripled last year after doubling in
2002, the first year after the United States overthrew the Taliban.

The report said that the growth in poppy production was "an enormous threat
to world security" and added that Afghanistan was "on the verge of becoming
a narcotics state."

Starting in 1985, the report was used to determine which countries were not
making significant efforts to control drug trafficking, and which warranted
a cut in United States aid. The authority to reduce aid was used against an
allied or friendly country only once in the last two decades, Colombia in 1994.

Last year President Bush chose to impose sanctions only on Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma. The United States does not maintain diplomatic
relations with Myanmar, a major producer of opium poppies. The decision for
this year will not be made until fall.

Two years ago, the Bush administration severed the official link between
the report and the determination of who gets aid, but Mr. Charles said the
data in the report was still the government's most detailed study of the
problem. It lists 22 nations as major drug-producing or -trafficking countries.

Most have been on the list for decades. For example, in 1985 the report
noted that Jamaica was a major producer of marijuana and that "the Jamaican
government has not set any targets with regard to cannabis eradication."

The new report describes a number of major anti-narcotic initiatives but
then notes that Jamaica remains "the largest producer and exporter of
cannabis in the Caribbean."

A separate report made public Friday, by the federal Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration, showed that the number of Americans
seeking treatment for marijuana use tripled from 1992 to 2002.

Speaking to reporters on Friday afternoon, Mr. Charles, head of the Bureau
for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the State
Department, acknowledged the Sisyphean challenge of his work.

"Winning the drug war," he said, "does not mean we, sort of, roll up the
bad guys and all future bad guys, and we're done." That, he acknowledged,
is unlikely ever to happen.

"The trend lines are what I want to bring to your attention," he added.

He noted that the number of countries listed as major drug-trafficking
nations fell from 23 to 22 this year. For the first time in more than 20
years, Thailand was not on the list; the government said Thailand was no
longer a major contributor to the drug trade.

Also, the report lauds Colombia for seizing large quantities of cocaine and
eradicating many acres of coca plants and opium poppy. But it concludes,
"Colombia is the source of over 90 percent of the cocaine and 50 percent of
the heroin entering the U.S."