U.N. TALKS ARE WELCOME AS HARBINGER OF WORLD UNITY AGAINST DRUGS

By Barry McCaffrey Director, White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy

A Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly, June 8-10, will
highlight the need for international cooperation against illegal drugs and
related crimes. President Clinton, Mexican President Zedillo, U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and other world leaders will participate in
this timely look at an increasingly serious transnational threat.

We look forward to the Special Session of the United Nations General
Assembly as the start of serious, large-scale efforts against addictive and
toxic drugs that threaten our children and our entire planet.

The scope of the worldwide drug problem is difficult to overstate.
Internationally, illegal drugs involve two hundred million users and five
hundred thousand million dollars a year -- a sum that exceeds the gross
national product of most countries. Mr. Annan notes that the illegal drug
trade is larger than the oil and gas industry worldwide and twice as big as
the motor vehicle industry.

The four million Americans who are chronically addicted to illegal drugs
cause enormous damage to themselves and the rest of society. We estimate
that drug abuse costs the United States more than $110,000 million a year,
causes approximately a third of all crime, and results in 1.5 million
arrests a year.

No nation can afford the social hemorrhaging caused by drug abuse. Illegal
drug trafficking overwhelms governments and public institutions in many
countries. Too many people view participation in any facet of the drug
trade as a legitimate form of economic activity. Among nations that condemn
drugs, all too often cooperation is lacking as different countries try to
get the drug trade to go elsewhere.

Pino Arlacchi, Under Secretary General for Drug Control at the United
Nations, is correct when he insists that the world is at a crossroads in
dealing with drugs. The choice we face is clear: we can either continue to
pursue unilateral responses to the problem and make little progress, or we
can recognize the illegal drug trade as a transnational phenomenon that
requires bilateral, regional, and global responses.

The Western hemisphere's success in addressing the cocaine scourge
underscores the promise of cooperation. Cocaine is a simple chemical
derived from coca leaves grown in the Andes mountains of South America. The
United States has reduced casual cocaine use by 70 percent in the past
thirteen years. In South America, regional interdiction has changed the
economics of the illegal cocaine trade and allowed alternative development
and eradication projects in Peru to reduce cultivation by 42 percent in the
past two years.

Peru is no longer the leading producer of coca. That dubious distinction
now belongs to Colombia, a country in the throes of a violent civil
struggle. Total coca production declined by approximately one hundred
metric tons in 1997. Since 1993, hemispheric interdiction activities have
yielded coca seizures that average about 270 metric tons annually.
Nevertheless, three hundred or more metric tons of the drug are still
smuggled into our nation every year. Demand reduction must be an integral
part of coca-control efforts.

The U.S. success in reducing drug use shows that a concerted effort can
make a difference. Overall drug use in the United States declined
dramatically over the past two decades. In 1979, more than twenty-five
million Americans used illicit drugs on a casual (defined as monthly)
basis. Today, about thirteen million Americans (6.1 percent of our
population) use drugs -- a 50 percent reduction.

The U.S. National Drug Control Strategy aims to reduce drug-use rates by 50
percent in the coming decade. This will result in the lowest levels of use
recorded in the past thirty years. Our Strategy defines reduction in demand
as the main focus of drug-control efforts. Prevention of drug, alcohol, and
tobacco use among children and adolescents is our most important goal. The
Strategy also recognizes that no single approach can solve the drug-abuse
problem.

Rather, drug prevention, education, and treatment must be complemented by
supply reduction abroad, interdiction on the borders, and strong law
enforcement within the United States. The Strategy ties public policy to a
scientific, research-based body of knowledge. This Strategy is also
supported by a performance measurement system that includes short, medium,
and long-term targets for each of our five strategic goals. The measurement
system allows for periodic review of successful initiatives and adjustments
to the Strategy as conditions change.

The problem of drug abuse, like illness or warfare, will not go away in the
foreseeable future. The so-called "war on drugs" is a poor metaphor because
it creates the expectation of a speedy victory and a specific end to a
campaign. Furthermore, we do not wage battles against our own children,
spouses, colleagues, and neighbors. Like education, efforts against drug
abuse must be on-going in every generation. By way of example, we do not
close schools, claiming we lost the "war on ignorance," because history,
science, and math must be taught year after year.

Our global challenge is to reduce drug use substantially and cripple the
trade in illegal substances. Rather than each country working alone against
drug dealers, we must unite in a common effort. This transnational problem
deserves a global solution.

Checked-by: Richard Lake