LAWMAKERS: U.S. FAILS VS. COLOMBIA DRUGS

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers say a U.S.-funded anti-drug program in Colombia is
doing little to eradicate the country's opium, the raw material for most of
the heroin used in the United States.

While gains have been made in stopping Colombian cocaine, fewer opium crops
are being sprayed this year than had been before Colombia began receiving
$1.8 billion in helicopters and other anti-drug assistance from the United
States, they said.

Rep. Dan Burton, chairman of the Government Reform Committee, said in
remarks prepared for a hearing Thursday that the government is focusing on
eradicating coca, the raw material for cocaine, at the expense of opium.

"The result has been an increase in Colombian heroin availability in the
U.S., an increase in hospital admissions for overdoses, and an increase in
overdose deaths in nearly every big city and small town east of the
Mississippi," said Burton, R-Ind.

Rep. Ben Gilman, R-N.Y., denounced "the lack of any political will,
leadership and any strategic thinking," by anti-drug authorities.

A State Department official said poppy is difficult to eradicate because it
is easy to plant and easy to hide. Because it grows on mountains, it is
also difficult to fumigate.

The amount of opium planted year-to-year varies dramatically, the official
said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In 2000, before most of the U.S. anti-drug aid was delivered, pilots
sprayed about 22,700 acres of opium. That figure fell to about 3,950 acres
last year

This year, U.S. officials expect to spray about 12,350 acres, according to
the committee.

Colombia accounts for most of the world's cocaine, but only a tiny fraction
of its heroin. But almost all Colombian heroin is sold in the United
States, especially in the East. Cocaine is much more popular than heroin in
the United States, but heroin accounts for more fatal overdoses.

Colombian heroin tends to be purer than the Mexican heroin that dominates
the western United States. Because of its purity, it is often inhaled,
making it more appealing to people who don't want to use needles.

Police and anti-drug officials say Colombian heroin is tied to what they
see as increased use of the drug.

In Westmoreland County, Pa., near Pittsburgh, 12 people have died of
overdoses this year, compared with five fatal overdoses over the five
previous years, Detective Tony Marcocci, of the county's district
attorney's office, said in his prepared remarks.

Detective Sgt. Scott Pelletier of the Portland, Maine, Police Department,
said heroin seizures and arrests have surged in his state.

"There has historically been a heroin problem in Maine, but over the last
five years it has become nothing short of an epidemic," he said.