Pubdate: Fri, 29 Sep 2000
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2000 The Miami Herald
Contact:  One Herald Plaza, Miami FL 33132-1693
Fax: (305) 376-8950
Website: http://www.herald.com/
Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?mherald
Author: Barry R. McCaffrey
Note: Barry R. McCaffrey is director of the Office for National Drug 
Control Policy

ALLIES IN DRUG WAR

In August Mexico's President-elect Vicente Fox visited the United States 
and Canada in hopes of forging a stronger alliance between our three 
nations. Mr. Fox promises to confront drug traffickers once he takes office 
in December. An outspoken critic of drug certification (the annual 
evaluation process in which the U.S. judges other countries' efforts to 
combat illegal drugs), Fox favors mutual assessment among equal partners. A 
proponent of decentralization and state's rights, he seeks to foster 
"democracy, legality, peace" in Mexico while improving the country 
economically and educationally.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy welcomes increased 
participation by Mexico -- and all countries in this hemisphere -- in the 
struggle against the drug trade and political corruption that accompanies 
it. Prevention through anti-drug education, increased opportunities for 
treatment, improved interdiction, and strengthening the rule of law are 
commitments Mexico and the U.S.share.

We can be proud of the progress both nations made in recent years. In 1996, 
Presidents Clinton and Zedillo created a bi-national High level Contact 
Group to develop collective approaches for reducing drug demand and 
trafficking, controlling precursor chemicals, and detecting 
money-laundering as well as illegal arms trade. The Contact Group works to 
eradicate supply of illicit crops and the criminal organizations dealing 
with cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and other dangerous substances. In 
1997-98, the U.S. and Mexico produced a joint drug-threat assessment and a 
common strategy for cooperation. In recent years, three enormously 
successful bi-national conferences on reducing drug demand brought together 
health-care professionals and community leaders from both countries. Mexico 
strengthened its National council on Addictions and made some headway in 
arresting the astronomical growth of drug dependence. Finally, in the past 
five years Mexico eradicated 125,000 hectares of marijuana and 80,500 
hectares of opium poppy through aerial spraying and annual eradication by 
the Mexican Army and national police. During that time, the government also 
arrested several drug kingpins. The Mexican Navy and U.S. Coast Guard 
interdicted thirty-three tons of cocaine in FY 1999.

Our efforts to date set the stage for the ambitious work President Fox 
seeks to accomplish. The Organization of American States will provide the 
venue for a multilateral evaluation mechanism that should be more 
cooperative than confrontational. Mr. Fox's plan to attack drug-related 
corruption is commendable and courageous. While internal affairs are 
Mexico's own business, cross-border crime is an area where both Mexico and 
the United States have a legitimate common interest, and our 
law-enforcement officials should be able to cooperate. The noted pragmatism 
of President-elect Fox can help produce creative approaches to the global 
problem of illegal drugs. Significant progress against drug trafficking 
could facilitate the type of free exchange that Fox anticipates across the 
two thousand-mile open border between our countries.

Mexico, Canada, and the United States are now linked by the North American 
Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA will increase prosperity and strengthen our 
resources for combating drug problems. Mexico is now our second-biggest 
trading partner in the world (after Canada).

In upcoming years, we must bridge the distance between a hundred million 
Mexicans and 270 million Americans. Our countries share not only adjacent 
geography but rich historical, cultural, and religious connections that 
tend to pull us together commercially and politically.

President-elect Fox's visit underscored his commitment to build upon past 
counter-drug accomplishments. We may wish to consider four principles for 
future action.

Openness: We are willing to entertain all good ideas. Everything must be 
put on the table for consideration.

Transparency: Our governments should be up-front with one another and the 
public in regard to illegal drugs. Science-based research needs to be applied.

Equality: We respect both nations' sovereignty. A peer partnership, where 
all parties bear the same level of responsibility, must be the basis for 
counter-drug coordination.

Friendship: Given our joint dedication to overcoming the drug problem, a 
spirit of collaboration is appropriate. The hazard we face refutes the 
notion of drug-suppliers versus drug-consumers. Wherever drugs are sold, 
abuse develops.

Mexico and the U.S. are committed to rooting out a drug malignancy that 
could overwhelm other forms of cooperation are still the answers to a 
problem that threatens us at home, next door, and abroad.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager