18 January 2002

U.S. Official Advocates Coordinated Drug Policy for Western Hemisphere

By Lauren Monsen
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The United States believes that the problem of illegal drugs in the Western Hemisphere is best tackled by a comprehensive regional approach that encourages close partnership with neighboring countries, says William Brownfield, deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.

Speaking at a January 18 session of the World Affairs Councils of America's conference on "The Future of Latin America," Brownfield offered his assessment of the so-called "war on drugs" that presents the region with one of its most pressing challenges.

"I would like to adjust the way we usually address this issue," he said. "We usually start with a mind-numbing series of statistics."

Instead, he argued, "we need to ask six questions -- first, why do we care? Second, what is the threat to the Western Hemisphere? Third, what was the response? Fourth, has it worked? Fifth, where do we go from here? And sixth, is legalization the solution?"

The first question, he said, has a fairly straightforward answer. No country can afford to be indifferent to the scourge of illegal drugs, Brownfield declared, because the ramifications of trafficking are so far-reaching and profound. And those ramifications, he added, exist on many levels.

The United States and its allies in the hemisphere recognize that the illicit narcotics trade provides a fertile breeding ground for corruption, which significantly undermines democratic institutions in the countries most affected by trafficking operations. Without being specific, Brownfield cited the case of a regional government "that was managed by individuals who were, at best, on the payroll" of drug lords. He noted that the country soon experienced a total breakdown in law enforcement, as well as the corresponding paralysis of its judicial system.

On the subject of whether -- and how -- drugs affect regional economies, Brownfield said: "There is no question that they do." These effects can easily be measured by examining the dynamics of a small community of subsistence farmers in Latin America, he suggested. "The impact of drugs, even a small amount of production, completely distorts their way of life," he said. Commerce and trade is subverted when drug traffickers offer farmers hefty financial incentives to plant coca instead of maize, for example.

Quite apart from the obvious temptation facing local farmers, or campesinos, to favor lucrative coca crops over the pursuit of legitimate agriculture, the impact can be devastating in other respects, too. Brownfield pointed out that dangerous chemicals, such as those required for processing cocaine and heroin, are dumped in nearby rivers -- and the resulting damage to the environment is often acute.

In addition, he said, the lawlessness fostered by drug trafficking offers a hospitable climate for terrorism, insurgencies, and horrific human-rights violations. Colombia has battled these problems throughout its decades-old civil war, which is fuelled by guerrilla groups with established ties to drug syndicates. Drug trafficking, said Brownfield, "gives rise to insurgencies, from [both] the left and right" of the political spectrum, further weakening the ability of democratically elected governments to function.

According to Brownfield, the impact of illegal drugs on the United States is equally severe, if less dramatic. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) reports annually on the estimated street value of illegal drugs entering the United States, the number of deaths and crimes attributable to drugs, the cost to the U.S. economy in terms of lost productivity, and the percentage of the U.S. prison population whose offenses are drug-related. "The ONDCP tells us that the U.S. economy lost $294 billion last year" on account of illegal drugs, Brownfield said. Well over 50 percent of the prison population has some involvement with drugs, the ONDCP indicated, and approximately 1.5 million drug-related arrests occur each year in the United States.

Brownfield observed that the threat to the Western Hemisphere from drug trafficking is most vividly illustrated by its effects in source countries, such as Colombia, and in transit countries, such as Haiti. He acknowledged that the primary consumer nation in the hemisphere is "us, of course -- the United States."

Colombia "is one of the United States' oldest and most reliable democratic partners in this region," Brownfield said. "And Colombia has confronted economic and security crises, and even drug crises, before -- sometimes simultaneously." He said that in recent years, however, the proliferation of drug trafficking in Colombia has sharply exacerbated the country's problems.

"In essence, Colombia was the victim of the success of U.S. anti-drug policies" elsewhere in the hemisphere, he explained. "When we dramatically reduced [illicit] drug production in Bolivia and Peru, drug manufacturers moved their operations to Colombia."

Haiti, he said, is a prime example of the difficulties that beset drug-transit countries whose territory is used as a route for transporting illicit cargo to its intended destination. "A majority, perhaps even an overwhelming majority, of drugs processed in South America have transitted through Haiti" to the United States, Brownfield said. He cited "Haiti's political chaos, and its chronically underpaid and underappreciated police force" as factors that conspired to produce a tremendous void in law enforcement. "This is what drug traffickers regard as a zone of opportunity," he added.

Brownfield described a "vicious circle" at work in Haiti and in other parts of the Caribbean: limited law enforcement, which is inherently attractive to drug rings, combined with struggling economies that are vulnerable to bribery and threats of coercion from organized crime. Moreover, "similar situations exist throughout the hemisphere," he said.

The hemisphere's response to this threat has been to devise a national plan for each regional country, including the United States. Of these strategies, Brownfield said, "Plan Colombia is perhaps the best-known." Devised by Colombian President Andres Pastrana, the strategy aims to curb drug trafficking, end civil strife, and rebuild the country's shattered economy. Funding for Plan Colombia will require a total of $7.5 billion over a three-year period, with contributions from Colombia itself, from the United States, and from other international donors.

Plan Colombia encompasses "military, law enforcement, economic development, justice reform, human rights, peace, and humanitarian" programs "designed to address all of Colombia's concerns," Brownfield said. He indicated that U.S. support, beginning with a $1.3 billion emergency supplemental package in late 2000, has been channeled into several different areas. Assistance to Colombian authorities in efforts to re-establish control over southern Colombia, assistance to police, alternative-crop and development assistance, and support for human rights and judicial-reform initiatives are some of the priorities that U.S. funds have supported.

"Has the strategy worked?" Brownfield asked rhetorically. He concluded that it was probably too early to judge, since "U.S. support for Plan Colombia is just over a year old." In fact, he said, "we began implementing [the plan] about 14 months ago."

But "I would argue that it's in the process of working," he added. "It's not a static process; we're making adjustments as we go along." He pointed to Bolivia and Peru as "the two success stories" of regional counter-drug policy, emphasizing that the impressive results in those countries were not immediate. Yet even those two nations offer "cause for concern, though not for alarm," Brownfield said. As Plan Colombia progresses, and "as we put [increasing] pressure on Colombian drug traffickers, they may be tempted to move their operations back to Bolivia and Peru," he cautioned.

"How do we avoid this spillover effect?" he continued. "Where do we go from here?" Clearly, the United States wants to "reinforce the success of Bolivia and Peru," while preventing drug rings from moving into Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador, he said.

He recalled the words, two nights earlier, of President Bush. The president, as guest of honor at the opening of the World Affairs Councils conference, had urged leaders in the hemisphere to support the Andean Regional Initiative, Brownfield said.

Critics had initially charged that the Andean Regional Initiative "focused too much on security," and not enough on other concerns; also, they complained that it "focused too much on Colombia, and not enough on the rest of the neighborhood," he admitted.

The Andean Regional Initiative "has attempted to address those issues," Brownfield said, and it now "strives for 50/50 balance" between what is loosely called "hard assistance" (defined as assistance for law enforcement and security measures), on the one hand, and "soft assistance" (economic development and institutional-reform assistance), on the other. In addition, the initiative aims to divide resources more equitably to address Colombia's needs and those of neighboring countries.

Brownfield reiterated that drug trafficking is, demonstrably, a huge security problem. "After September 11, we can no longer draw distinctions between various issues affecting our national security," he said. "These issues blend together. That lesson was graphically illustrated by the events of September 11 in New York, in Washington, and in Pennsylvania." Many terrorist cells, he observed, are financed by drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime.

"How about legalization? Is that a solution?" he asked. "It will not surprise you to learn that my answer is no. I will not bore you with a lot of moral arguments, although I think we could have a very valid discussion in that context."

But "pragmatically speaking," Brownfield said, "we cannot legalize drugs if we are to maintain a civilized society." For example, he argued, no society can tolerate drug-addled bus drivers or airline pilots -- or drug-addicted children, or anyone else, for that matter. Of course, "there will still be a market for illicit drugs, particularly among the inner-city underclass," he added. "The poor, who are often badly educated, and unemployed or working in low-paid jobs, who may come from broken families and have little in the way of a safety net, are the most victimized" by drug traffickers.

"A long-term, integrated and balanced approach that brings together national and international drug policies" from around the hemisphere, and that stresses both "law enforcement and security, and drug treatment for addicts" is the most promising counter-drug strategy for the Americas, Brownfield concluded.

Most importantly, a coordinated hemisphere-wide response must recognize that "this is a law-enforcement issue, involving police and federal prosecutors, and it's also a development issue," he said. "We're talking about a global campaign, a generational effort."

He admitted that Americans might not "like the concept of a war that will take about 25 years to win, but I suspect that will be the case." Just as it took a generation "to get into this mess, it will take a generation to get out," he said.