Too many nations have made the mistake of underestimating the nature of the threat posed by illegal drug cultivation, production, trafficking and consumption. Governments that have tolerated the cultivation of coca or opium poppies have seen deforestation and distortion of the agricultural sector. Nations where drugs are produced or trafficked have seen their financial sectors and political institutions wracked by economic distortion and corruption. Consuming countries have witnessed addiction and its terrible criminal, health and social consequences. No nation is immune from this transnational threat. Nor can any nation stand up to the problem unilaterally. Bilateral and multilateral responses to this international cancer have yielded encouraging results, particularly in the western hemisphere. The United Nations, through the activities of its International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), the actions of its International Narcotics Control Board, and the upcoming General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem, is a key component of the global response to this common threat.

For international drug control efforts, particularly in the western hemisphere, 1997 was a good year. Appreciable gains were made in crop reduction, in interdiction, and in weakening trafficking syndicates, strengthening law enforcement and targeting drug money laundering. The year's best news came from Peru, for years the world's largest coca growing country. Three-plus years of joint efforts by the American, Peruvian and Colombian forces to choke off the "air bridge" that carries Peruvian cocaine base to Colombia for processing paid off handsomely. The operation simultaneously deprived Colombian trafficking organizations of critical basic materials and drove down the price of coca leaf in Peru below the break-even point. Disillusioned Peruvian growers abandoned fields to take advantage of alternative development opportunities. As a result of the exodus, in 1997, Peruvian coca cultivation dropped 27 per cent, an extraordinary decline that occurred on top of last year's 18 per cent reduction. The United States estimates that Peru now cultivates 68,800 hectares of coca, just slightly more than half of the estimated 129,100 hectares identified in the peak year of 1992. Bolivia's 1997 coca crop was also the smallest in ten years—a result of its Government's determination to confront the drug trade. Colombia was a different story since successful coca control operations also spurred new planting. Colombian traffickers accelerated their campaign to plant new coca outside the traditional growing areas, both to offset heavy losses from government eradication missions and replace cocaine supplies cut off by the "air bridge" denial. With 79,500 hectares under cultivation at year's end, Colombia is now the largest coca cultivating country. Still, even taking into account the expansion in Colombia, this year's total Andean coca cultivation of 194,100 hectares was the lowest in a decade—proof that persistence pays.

The global community faces a different set of challenges in trying to limit the cultivation of opium poppy—the source of heroin. This heavily addictive drug is gradually staging a comeback among a new generation of users in the United States and elsewhere. Unlike coca, which currently grows in only three Andean countries, opium poppy grows in nearly every region of the world. Because it is an annual crop with as many as three harvests per year, it is much harder to eliminate, especially since nearly 90 per cent of the world's estimated opium gum production (3,630 out of 4,137 metric tons) is produced in Burma and Afghanistan, countries where the international community has limited influence.

Though we can take pride in our collective accomplishments, we are still a long way from permanently crippling the drug trade. As one of the pillars of international organized crime, it remains a formidable enemy. Well before transnational crime had become recognized as one of the principal threats to international stability, the drug syndicates already had in place an impressive network of supply centers, distribution networks, foreign bases and reliable entree into the Governments of source and transit countries. They pioneered many of today's sophisticated money laundering techniques, hiring first-rate accountants and investing in state-of-the-art technology. And when the former Soviet Union collapsed, the drug syndicates were quick to recruit Eastern European chemists and other technical specialists left unemployed by the change in political systems. Even after suffering considerable losses, the drug trade's wealth (estimated by UNDCP at close to $500 billion a year), power and organization exceed the resources of many Governments.

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About the Author:

General Barry R. McCaffrey is the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy of the United States. He is a member of President Bill Clinton's Cabinet and a senior drug policy official in the United States Executive Branch. He previously served as Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces Southern Command. Gen. McCaffrey contributed this article at the invitation of the Chronicle. Drug Facts Each link returns a unique fact.