By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin America Correspondent
Published April 2, 2005
MIAMI - The United States' efforts to eradicate drug-producing crops in Colombia appear to have hit a wall.
New annual estimates show cultivation of the coca plant used to make cocaine was unchanged in 2004, according to a report by the White House drug czar's office. After two years of major declines in drug production, the news was buried in a March 25 press release that went mostly unreported.
Cultivation of coca in Colombia, which produces 80 percent of the world's cocaine, was "statistically unchanged" in 2004 at 282,000 acres, according to the report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. That was despite an aerial eradication effort that sprayed more than 321,000 acres of coca in Colombia last year.
Potential production of cocaine fell 7 percent to 430 tons, the report said. That was down from 460 tons for 2003, and a peak of 700 tons in 2001, the report noted. The decline in production was explained by an increased percentage of newly planted fields with young, immature plants that have a lower yield of coca leaves.
Drug policy critics remain skeptical.
"The U.S. government's own data provides stark evidence that the drug war is failing to achieve its most basic objectives," said John Walsh, who monitors drug policy for the nonprofit Washington Office on Latin America.
The government says its production estimates are based on similar techniques used to estimate agricultural crops in the United States, including high-tech satellite imagery and crop sampling. But surveys tend to be more limited in Colombia, due to mountainous terrain and hostile fire from rebel groups, which make close inspection difficult.
Critics say the report confirms independent research on the ground in Colombia indicating a losing battle against coca farmers.
The government has yet to release its coca cultivation estimates for Peru. Even so, the report stated that cultivation in the Andean region "continued its decline, falling 5 percent in 2004."
That estimate surprised independent analysts, who say most indicators suggest a sharp rise due to intensified efforts by Colombian traffickers to plant new crops there.
There was better news on the production of heroin in Colombia, according to the drug czar's office. Due to aerial eradication, opium poppy cultivation fell 52 percent between 2003 and 2004, the report found, reducing potential heroin production from 7.8 tons in 2003 to 3.8 tons last year.
Despite government claims of success, cocaine and heroin prices on U.S. streets have not budged, critics say. Prices have fallen dramatically since the 1980s and are now at an all-time low, Walsh said, citing data released by the drug czar's office earlier this year.
Colombian and U.S. officials say the drug trade has been hit harder than ever in recent years. Besides the eradication of drug crops, 150 tons of cocaine were seized in Colombia last year and 1,098 clandestine cocaine-processing laboratories were burned down.
But critics say the record in the war on drugs speaks for itself. The United States has spent nearly $45-billion on drug interdiction and eradication programs in the last 25 years, according to the Washington Office on Latin America.
