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Press release March 3, 2000 The U.S. 1999 International Narcotics
Control Strategy Report The U.S. State
Department's 1999 report on international narcotics production and trade says
that current anti-drug programs are succeeding in disrupting production and
trafficking patterns, tightening law enforcement systems and strengthening
measures against money laundering. The 1999
International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released March 1, nevertheless
says that the drug trade remains a "formidable enemy," with "access
to financial resources available to few national governments." Traffickers become more sophisticated each year, the report says, adapting to counternarcotics strategies and retaining the ability to move hundreds of tons of cocaine to markets in the United States and Europe as well as to Latin America, Asia, Africa and the former Soviet Union. "In what
resembles economic alchemy, drug syndicates transform an intrinsically cheap,
available, and easily renewable commodity (e.g., coca leaves) into an almost
inconceivably remunerative product," the report
says. "In terms of weight and availability, there is currently no
commodity more lucrative than drugs." It points out
that the U.S. government's fiscal year 2000 budget for international drug
control operations is about $1,500 million dollars. "That is the street
value of approximately 16 metric tons of cocaine. The Mexican drug cartels have
lost that much in a few shipments and barely felt the loss." The wealth they
accumulate gives to the syndicates "an almost unlimited capacity to
corrupt," the report says. "In many ways the drug syndicates
are a greater threat to democratic government than many insurgent
movements." The most striking single development in the drug trade in 1999, according to the report, was "the continuing, steady decline in the Andean coca crop, the source of all the cocaine destined for the United States." The numbers reflect a rise in coca production in Colombia but sharp declines in Peru and Bolivia, the former top world producers. The report notes
the Clinton administration's proposed $1,300 million assistance program to
Colombia to support anti-drug efforts in that country as well as strengthen
democracy and revitalize the economy. The document
reports "worrisome signs" of increasing use of heroin by young people
in the United States, with most of it coming in 1999 from Colombia or Mexico,
although those two countries account for less than six percent of world opium
poppy production. The report
argues that the annual U.S. process to certify that countries are cooperating
with international efforts to stem the drug trade has been an effective means
of shedding light on drug corruption, which it says needs darkness to survive. "Though
controversial, throughout the 14 years it has been in effect the certification
process has proved to be a powerful policy instrument," the report
says. "Its strength lies in its reliance on public, rather than on
traditional diplomacy. In a sharp departure from the confidentiality inherent
in traditional bilateral diplomacy, public diplomacy stressesess and
transparenc.". "Because
of its public nature, the drug certification process makes every government
concerned publicly accountable for its actions, including the United
States," the report says. "While the United States Government
obviously cannot certify itself, most governments recognize that the President
of the United States cannot issue such an important public declaration without
being certain of, and held accountable for, his facts. The goal of the
certification process is not to sanction; it is to hold all countries to a
commonly acknowledged international standard of cooperation. By its nature it also
exposes the United States to full public scrutiny by the rest of the
international community. We become as accountable as any other country for our
successes and our failings. As uncomfortable as it may be for all concerned, it
is a healthy process." The full 1999 narcotics report is available on the State Department Web site at: http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/narc_reports_mainhp.html © Hassela Nordic Network |
