Pubdate: Fri, 13 Mar 1998
Date: March 13, 1998
Source: Waco Tribune-Herald
Author: John F. Wilson

Cetification for Columbian counter-narcotics efforts? Cocaine crop
eradication? U.S. policy-makers continue ignoring the experts and insist on
source eradication as a means of of controlling drug trafficking and use.

This tired strategy inevitably fails.

One hundred percent of the world's cocaine comes from South America. The
coca-growing region of South America is approximately the size of the
United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

What percentage of this land is required to produce the tons of cocaine? A
mere one-twentieth of 1 percent of the entire coca-growing region.

What about interdiction efforts? Worldwide, 530 metric tons goes
undetected.  Only 10 percent of all illegal drugs bound for the United
States are stopped at the border.

The certification process begins with certified idiots: utopian
policy-makers in lock-step with warmongering drug cartels.

It's time to certify alternative policies of harm reduction and tolerance.
These are the truly successful alternatives responsible for reducing
trafficking and drug abuse.

John F. Wilson
Waco, TX