Pubdate: Thu, 15 Nov 2001
Source: Reuters (Wire)
Copyright: 2001 Reuters Limited
Author: Lorraine Orlandi

WHITE HOUSE SEES ILLEGAL DRUG USE SLOWING IN AMERICA

MEXICO CITY, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The top White House drug official 
said on Wednesday illegal drug use in America had slowed and cocaine 
consumption was falling.

Edward Jurith, acting director of the White House Office of National 
Drug Control Policy, said the Bush administration had good news from 
a recent national survey of 70,000 households on the use of illicit 
drugs.

"That survey showed that drug use in America is relatively flat. The 
abuse of cocaine, marijuana and heroin are not increasing. In fact, 
we were pleased that our cocaine use level was at the lowest ever," 
Jurith said during a visit to Mexico.

The survey indicated that 7 percent of Americans used drugs in the 
previous month, down from 14 percent in 1980, he told a news 
conference. It showed cocaine use had dropped 70 percent since 1985 
and drug use was declining among young people.

"Our drug trends are relatively flat right now and that's good news," 
Jurith told a news conference. "We still have a high drug use 
problem, with 14 million users and 5 million addicts, but we've made 
significant progress in the past two decades in reducing prevalence 
of drug use in the United States."

U.S. President George W. Bush has made reducing demand a centerpiece 
of his drug control effort, and Jurith was in Mexico City for a 
bilateral meeting on the issue.

He 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.

Unlike the United States, Mexico has seen cocaine use grow sharply in 
the past decade. Mexico is a key transport route for Andean cocaine 
headed to the United States, and in recent years traffickers have 
begun paying for passage with drugs instead of dollars, said Guido 
Belsasso, national anti-addiction commissioner in the Mexican Health 
Ministry.

He and Jurith said new trafficking patterns may be emerging in light 
of tightened security at the U.S.-Mexico border following the Sept. 
11 aerial attacks on New York and Washington, with more of the drugs 
possibly remaining in Mexico and Central America.

After years of joint efforts that have often been marred by suspicion 
and hostility, the United States and Mexico appear to have opened a 
new chapter in cooperation in fighting the drug trade.

The two governments released a joint statement on Wednesday saying 
they would share information and coordinate efforts to reduce demand 
while continuing to fight powerful drug cartels that ship cocaine and 
other drugs through Mexico and into the United States.

"Because we are neighbors who share a border, a culture and a future, 
there is no alternative to cooperation in the campaign against drug 
use and its consequences," Bush said in a letter to officials 
attending the three-day bilateral meeting.
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