Article: Western Hemisphere Countries Embrace Regional Approach to Fighting Drugs

30 April 2001

Article: Western Hemisphere Countries Embrace Regional Approach to Fighting Drugs

Collective evaluation is "best hope" for solution, says expert

By Lauren Monsen
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM), a tool that measures anti-drug efforts in the Western Hemisphere on a country-by-country and regional basis, "is our best hope of finding effective solutions" to the scourge of illicit drugs, says Paul Kennedy, senior assistant deputy solicitor general of Canada.

Kennedy, appearing at a press briefing April 27 at the Organization of American States (OAS), joined former U.S. diplomat David Beall to discuss progress on strengthening the MEM in the wake of the third Summit of the Americas, held April 20-22 in Quebec City. Beall is executive secretary of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission, while Kennedy serves as chair of the MEM Intergovernmental Working Group.

Under the terms of the MEM, each of the OAS member states appoints a drug-policy expert to help assess the nature of the drug threat in the other 33 countries. To ensure objectivity, national experts do not participate in their own country's evaluation.

The two officials reported that government experts from throughout the hemisphere met April 23-27 to review the mechanism and to re-examine the indicators used as benchmarks in the evaluation process. Kennedy said that the experts will add new indicators to existing ones, in order to reflect evolving patterns in drug consumption, production and trafficking and to cover related areas such as firearms smuggling and corruption.

Kennedy, in particular, was emphatic about the need to be adaptable in confronting the ever-changing strategies of drug traffickers as well as shifting trends in drug use. "The MEM is not a static instrument," he said. "The drug problem mutates, and we have to be in a position to respond to these new challenges. If our methods are inadequate, we'll adjust them."

He argued that the MEM's value as a weapon against illicit drugs is based on the realization "that we are dealing with a transnational problem" requiring a cooperative, rather than an accusatory, approach. "All [hemispheric] countries recognize that they have a drug problem; there are no exceptions," Kennedy said. "Instead of assigning blame, we must ask ourselves how to address these problems -- because my neighbor's problem today is my problem tomorrow."

Much remains to be done by regional governments, he said. "We have to have some degree of harmonization of our laws, reciprocity [in terms of extraditing suspected drug traffickers], greater sharing of information at all levels," Kennedy explained. "The recommendations [of hemispheric drug-policy experts] will be followed by a public report, which will indicate what has been done in response to those recommendations."

Asked by a reporter how authorities will verify the data on drugs provided by individual governments, Kennedy replied that the MEM's peer-review system ensures that "countries hold one another accountable" for supplying an accurate "snapshot" of each nation's drug profile. "Very detailed country-by-country comments" are included in the MEM, he observed, adding that "more importantly, countries are not trying to hide or minimize the data: they come forward to tell you the nature and scope of the problem" within their borders.

Beall agreed, noting that the MEM's achievement in this regard is all the more remarkable because of the inherent difficulty of "getting all the [regional] governments functioning simultaneously on a problem of this importance and sensitivity."

In addition to heightened coordination of law-enforcement operations, the hemisphere is also placing a greater priority on education and prevention efforts to reduce the incidence of drug abuse, Kennedy noted. He praised "Plan Colombia," the program launched by Colombian President Andres Pastrana to curb the illicit drug trade and to restore civil order in his country, as "a very substantial attack" on the drug problem, while reiterating that "countries must work together to fight drug trafficking, since the problem can migrate to other areas, too."

Kennedy said that as a Canadian, he was impressed by the fact that "Americans have been very supportive" of the MEM. "President Bush himself has spoken out on the value of the MEM process," he pointed out. For his part, Beall said that the United States "is a full partner" in MEM activities.

"Our objective is to build consensus [throughout the hemisphere] in terms of commonality in legal requirements, [law] enforcement standards, et cetera," Kennedy declared. The MEM's overall approach to combatting illicit drugs, he said, "is moving ahead to practical solutions to get everyone on board."