WHERE TERROR AND THE DRUG WAR MEET

The nation's two wars -- the one on drugs and the one on terrorism --
appear disturbingly intertwined. And some people wonder if we can fight
both successfully.

International drug smugglers, briefly stymied by post-Sept. 11 border
tightening, are back with a vengeance, according to border guards. Seizures
of illegal drugs in South Texas and elsewhere are soaring, The Associated
Press has reported. Agents say smugglers seem to be making up for
opportunities lost during a lull after the terrorist attacks.

Just as the drug smugglers make up for lost time, anti-smuggling forces
along the nation's borders are stretched thin. The war on terrorism is
draining law enforcement resources away from the drug war, says the chief
of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Asa Hutchinson says FBI, Customs
Service and Coast Guard agents are being diverted to anti-terrorism beats.
Others say the Border Patrol is losing agents to duty as sky marshals and
other anti-terrorist jobs.

The drop in anti-drug resources comes at a particularly unfortunate time.
Afghanistan has been until recently the world's leading producer of opium
poppies, and the Taliban government is releasing vast opium stockpiles at
bargain prices. With terrorist Osama bin Laden's financial assets frozen,
he will increasingly rely on drug money, U.S. officials say. Some tribal
leaders who oppose the Taliban reportedly also rely on drug trafficking for
support.

Soon after Sept. 11, a flood of opium and heroin moved from Afghanistan to
Karachi, Pakistan, a world drug-trade center. It's headed our way. Much of
the stash is likely to wind up in the United States and Western Europe, at
prices less than half what they were in early September.

Hutchinson says he is particularly concerned that Miami and the Caribbean
might regain their 1980s reputation as open drug marts. The Coast Guard had
pulled as much as 75 percent of its cutter and aircraft fleet from the
Caribbean to handle security for seaports. "We're trying to pick up the
slack," Hutchinson said of his dwindling drug-fighting resources.

One way of picking up the slack would be to reduce demand for the
smugglers' product. Our notoriety as voracious drug consumers is a hurtful
liability, especially now. Is wartime likely to reduce the appetite for
drugs? One clue that the answer may be "no" might be found in the legal,
prescription drug market. IMS Health, a leading supplier of pharmaceutical
information, reports that in the month right after Sept. 11, U.S. sales of
sedatives and antidepressants, already booming, spiked.