Source: Dallas Morning News Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com Pubdate: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 Author: David LaGesse / The Dallas Morning News MEXICANS HAIL U.S. ADMISSION ON DRUG DEMAND Officials at bilateral conference herald new era of cooperation EL PASO - A U.S. admission that its domestic demand drives the hemisphere's drug trade has opened a new era in cooperation with Mexico, Mexican officials said Thursday. "This is a radical change," said Mexican Health Secretary Juan Ramon de la Fuente. "An old Mexican proposition has finally found its voice." Mr. de la Fuente spoke at the opening of a two-day bilateral conference in El Paso on reducing drug demand, which Mexico and the rest of Latin America say is the catalyst of the regional drug problem. Some participants said the meeting, initiated and hosted by U.S. officials, amounted to an unusual display of self-criticism for the United States, a country that historically has blamed its southern neighbors for the narcotics problem. The conference took place amid debate in Congress on whether to give Mexico a failing grade in its campaign against trafficking. Many U.S. lawmakers say Mexico has not stemmed the flow of cocaine and heroin into the United States. Critics were quick to attack the U.S. conference statement of culpability, arguing that the administration appears unwilling to push Mexico into more effective enforcement efforts. "They're holding this conference to put the blame on the United States instead of Mexico," said Phil Jordan, a former Drug Enforcement Administration official and outspoken critic of Mexico. "We should be pointing the finger at Mexico, which has failed to attack the cartels operating there." Nonetheless, the bilateral meeting gave the two governments an opportunity to highlight Mexico's argument that U.S. consumer money fuels the drug trade. "U.S. consumption of drugs . . . is now acting as an engine that is sucking cocaine and heroin through Mexico," said U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey. Mr. McCaffrey said the timing of the conference was not tied to an expected congressional action by month's end on whether to overturn President Clinton's decision to certify Mexico as fully cooperating in the counter-drug fight. The annual certification debate has proven heated in recent years, particularly as attention turned to Mexico as a growing transit route for illegal drugs. "This event [in El Paso] is unrelated to the process of certification," Mr. McCaffrey said. But Mexican officials clearly welcomed the chance to answer criticism from Capitol Hill with their own about U.S. demand. "We appreciate the sincerity of this U.S. administration to address the issue of consumption," said Juan Rebolledo Gout, Mexico foreign affairs undersecretary. They said it was evidence of the Clinton administration's emphasis on forging a bilateral effort. "We need cooperation instead of confrontation," said Mr. de la Fuente. "We need cooperation instead of decertification." The 300 drug-treatment professionals and academics at the conference said they hope to generate cross-border cooperation in reducing consumption, such as bilingual education and advertising campaigns. The two countries in May released a bilateral strategy for fighting drugs that made demand reduction the No. 1 goal. That agreement partly reflected broader Clinton administration policy, placing more emphasis on prevention and treatment programs. White House budget requests have sought larger increases for demand-reduction efforts than for the enforcement programs favored by previous Republican administrations. The debate over demand vs. production is an old one, and one that speakers in El Paso said appeared increasingly irrelevant. "A division of countries into categories of producer, consumer or trafficker is not realistic," Mr. de la Fuente said. The United States has drug producers and traffickers, and Mexico has an increasing consumption problem, he said. In Mexico City, for example, the percentage of people using cocaine more than doubled in four years to 4 percent in 1997, Mr. de la Fuente said. Mexican border towns also show an alarming jump in drug consumption. "These are the red warning lights for us as a country," the Mexican health secretary said. Drug problems in the two countries appear increasingly similar, and that has has helped encourage more cooperation, he said: "This gathering itself would have been unthinkable a few years ago."