COLOMBIAN PRES URGES DRUG TESTING OF US, EUROPEAN EXECS

BOGOTA (AP)--Colombian president Alvaro Uribe urged the people of the U.S.
and Europe to submit to drug testing in an effort to reduce the use of the
illegal drugs which fund insurgents waging a decades-old civil war here.

"We need more serious promises from the consumer countries," Uribe told
reporters at a conference of Spanish and Latin American attorneys general
Friday.

He said that he wanted "the people in the United States and Europe to
submit to a drug test to help us conquer drugs."

Leftist rebels waging a bloody 38-year war against the government finance
their fight through drug trafficking. Their rivals, illegal right-wing
militias, also use drugs to get money for weapons. Colombia produces 90% of
the world's cocaine and the various violent groups are among the
best-financed in the world. Some 3,500 people die in the fighting every year.

Uribe singled out U.S. and European executives for his proposed drug
testing, reviving the traditional conflict between drug producing countries
and drug consuming countries. Many here believe the government would be
able to win the war quickly if it weren't for the money the rebels and the
right-wing militias make from the drug trade with the U.S. and Europe.

Uribe has promised a hard-line with both sides of the conflict, and with
drug traffickers. He has also proposed penalizing possession of small
amounts of drugs here. Since 1994, the possession of a personal dose of
cocaine or marijuana has been legal, but Uribe is trying to change that
through a national referendum.

Even though consumption is legal in Colombia, the levels of drug use are
low compared to the U.S. and Europe.