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Summary:
Efforts to reduce the flow of illicit drugs from abroad into the United States greatly have so far not succeeded. Moreover, over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Also, street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability. A major area of ongoing concern is: how effective can international narcotics control programs be in helping to reduce consumption? Despite national political resolve to deal with the drug problem, inherent contradictions regularly appear between U.S. anti-drug policy and other policy goals and concerns. Pursuit of these goals can sometimes affect foreign policy interests and bring political instability and economic dislocation to countries where narcotics production has become entrenched economically and socially. Drug supply interdiction programs and U.S. systems to facilitate the international movement of goods, people, and wealth are often at odds. U.S. international narcotics policy requires cooperative efforts by many nations which may have domestic and foreign policy goals that compete with the requirements of drug control. The mix of competing domestic and international pressures and priorities has produced an ongoing series of disputes within and between the legislative and executive branches concerning U.S. international drug policy. One contentious issue has been the Congressionally-mandated certification process, an instrument designed to induce specified drug-exporting countries to prioritize or pay more attention to the fight against narcotics businesses. In a significant development Congress waived the drug certification requirements for 2002 in December 2001, while requiring the President, with certain exceptions, to designate and withhold assistance from countries that had failed demonstrably to meet their counternarcotics obligations. P.L.106-246, "Plan Colombia," a $1.3 billion military assistance-focused initiative to provide emergency supplemental narcotics assistance to Colombia, was signed into law July 13, 2000. On April 9, 2001, President Bush unveiled an Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI) to succeed Plan Colombia, and requested $731 million in FY2002 funds for the program. On December 20, Congress appropriated $625 million for the program, $106 million below the President's request. Policy options addressed in this brief include: --Expansion of efforts to reduce foreign production at the source. --Expansion of interdiction and enforcement activities to disrupt supply lines. --Expansion of efforts to reduce worldwide demand. --Expansion of economic disincentives for international drug trafficking. For CRS products relevant to this subject, see CRS Issue Brief IB95025, Drug Supply Control: Current Legislation; CRS Report 98-159, Narcotics Certification of Drug Producing and Trafficking Nations: Questions and Answers; CRS Report RL30541, Colombia: U.S. Assistance and Current Legislation; and CRS Report RL31016, Andean Regional Initiative (ARI): FY2002 Assistance for Colombia and Neighbors.
