U.S., MEXICO BLUR NATIONAL BORDER TO FIGHT DRUG USE

MEXICO CITY -- Giovanni Mejia and his friends in a poor Mexico City
neighborhood wear baggy blue jeans, eat hamburgers and take cocaine, like
the Americans they see in films and television.

"You imitate things, clothes, food, expressions. You feel the U.S.
influence here in Mexico," said Mejia, 26, who is undergoing drug abuse
treatment in lieu of serving jail time after being arrested a month ago
with cocaine.

Mejia, who sports a 1950s-style rockabilly haircut, doesn't blame anyone
but himself for his addiction.

But he and doctors at his government-subsidized treatment center say the
U.S. drug culture influences drug use here, in terms of the availability
and mystique of drugs like cocaine.

U.S. officials agree.

Edward Jurith, acting director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, visited the Mexico City treatment center on Wednesday as
part of a joint effort to fight drug use in both countries.

"The cocaine threat is increasing in Mexico," he said. "Where cocaine is
trafficked, where it is available, it will be abused."

U.S. President George W. Bush has made reducing demand for illegal drugs a
centerpiece of his drug control effort. Jurith said Bush plans to increase
treatment funding by $1.6 billion over five years, boost community-based
prevention programs and promote public education through the media.

He said the strategy may be working, as a survey last month of 70,000 U.S.
households showed the incidence of drug use was flat. Meanwhile, cocaine
use in South America, Central America and Europe is on the rise, he said.

New Bilateral Approach

Jurith praised the treatment center in Iztapalapa, a sprawling,
crime-ridden Mexico City borough composed largely of squatter settlements,
calling its community-based approach a model for both nations.

His visit, to attend an annual bilateral meeting on reducing demand for
illegal drugs, highlighted a changing approach by Bush and Mexican
President Vicente Fox to what has long proved a thorny issue for the
neighboring countries.

The U.S. war on drugs has focused on trafficking through Mexico as a key
conduit for drugs to the United States, while Mexican leaders argue that
U.S. demand fuels the problem.

Mexico remains subject to annual U.S. certification as an ally in the drug
war, a process that rankles Mexican leaders. But Jurith hinted the policy
is obsolete and may be replaced with other verification mechanisms, perhaps
through bodies like the Organization of American States.

"Certification remains U.S. law," he said. "That said, I think it's very
obvious to everybody that President Fox and President Bush have signaled a
very positive tone to cooperation on drug control."

Doctors at the Iztapalapa drug treatment center welcomed such cooperation.

Psychologist Beatriz Paramo said her young patients are strongly influenced
by what they know of the United States. ' 'It's a very direct lifestyle
influence," she said.

For Mejia, who is receiving acupuncture among other treatments, staying
clean during the past month has meant turning his back on his old friends
to resist such influence.

"I see them and they call me things, they say things," he said. "But I just
say hello and turn away."