NEWS - Opium, Cocaine and the UN

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U.N. Says It Is Getting Farmers To Replace Their Drug Crops
New York Times; New York; Jul 11, 1999; Christopher S. Wren;

Edition:
          Late Edition (East Coast)
Start Page:
          8
ISSN:
          03624331

Abstract:
When Pino Arlacchi, the director of the United Nations International
Drug
Control Program, addressed the General Assembly 13 months ago and
proposed eliminating opium poppy and coca leaf cultivation in 10 years,
his
strategy was greeted with polite skepticism.

The notion of getting opium and coca farmers to grow less profitable
crops in
return for the promise of schools, medical clinics and roads and other
means
to a better life struck many listeners as unrealistic.

But Mr. Arlacchi says his timetable for eradicating the raw ingredients
for
heroin and cocaine around the world is, if anything, running ahead of
schedule in some countries, though he acknowledged difficulties in
others.

Full Text:
Copyright New York Times Company Jul 11, 1999


When Pino Arlacchi, the director of the United Nations International
Drug
Control
Program, addressed the General Assembly 13 months ago and proposed
eliminating
opium poppy and coca leaf cultivation in 10 years, his strategy was
greeted
with polite
skepticism.

The notion of getting opium and coca farmers to grow less profitable
crops
in return for
the promise of schools, medical clinics and roads and other means to a
better life struck
many listeners as unrealistic.

But Mr. Arlacchi says his timetable for eradicating the raw ingredients
for
heroin and
cocaine around the world is, if anything, running ahead of schedule in
some
countries,
though he acknowledged difficulties in others.

He insisted that people are taking alternative development, as his
strategy
is called,
more seriously.

''The skepticism has disappeared,'' he said in a telephone interview
from
the Office for
Drug Control and Crime Prevention in Vienna. ''Now we're not discussing
any
more if
it's possible to eliminate opium poppy and coca production. We are
discussing how to
do it.''

As evidence, Mr. Arlacchi cited the progress achieved in Peru and
Bolivia
over the last
year and a half.

In Bolivia, 34,000 acres of coca plants have been eradicated since 1998.
He
described
this as equivalent to depriving the drug market of nearly 43 tons of
cocaine.


In Peru, more than 50,000 acres were taken out of coca cultivation, an
amount
equivalent to pulling nearly 65 tons of cocaine from the market.

The decline began before Mr. Arlacchi began spreading his gospel of
alternative
development, thanks to separate efforts by the Peruvian and Bolivian
Governments,
which included Peru's air interdiction of aircraft transporting coca
base to
Colombia.

Peruvian coca cultivation dropped by 56 percent between 1995 and 1998,
according
to the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy. Bolivian
coca
cultivation,
it said, declined by 17 percent last year.

Mr. Arlacchi estimated that it would cost $5 billion over 10 years to
phase
out coca
leaf and opium poppy production. His recipe includes money from
international
donations, cooperation by local governments and ''a modest degree of
coercion'' to
make farmers switch to legal crops.

Opium poppy production in Afghanistan seems likely to increase this
year, he
said, but
the ruling Taliban militia is showing more willingness to help reverse
the
trend.

In June, he said, nearly 1,000 acres of opium poppies were eradicated in
Qandahar
province, where the United Nations drug control agency has an
alternative
development project. The acreage taken out of cultivation would have
produced about
24 tons of opium, or 2.4 tons of heroin. By bringing alternative
development
to
Qandahar, Mr. Arlacchi said, ''We removed 2.4 tons of heroin with a $5
million
investment.''

And in Shinwar and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan, Mr. Arlacchi
said, the
Taliban promised to confiscate any increase over last year's opium
harvest.
Afghanistan
vies with Myanmar, formerly Burma, as the world's biggest producer of
opium.

After Mr. Arlacchi visited Laos in May, he reported that the Government
agreed to
phase out opium poppy production there over six years.

''This is significant because Laos is the third largest producer of
opium,''
he said. He
said he promised to raise $80 million to finance Laotian alternative
development
programs.

Previous opium production in Thailand and Pakistan, he noted, also
dropped
off once
programs were put in place to help farmers there grow other crops.

But he said that ''Myanmar has made very modest progress'' in reducing
its
opium
output.

While coca cultivation plunged in Bolivia and Peru, it increased next
door
in Colombia,
the primary source of cocaine. Mr. Arlacchi, who last visited Colombia
in
March, said
eradicating its coca crops depended on whether the Government could
achieve
peace
with leftist guerrillas who control much of countryside.

With a credible peace, he said, ''We can really say that the years of
illicit crops are
numbered.''

But if peace efforts fail in Colombia, he said, the progress made in
reducing coca
production in the Andean countries will suffer.

In addition to soliciting funds from the United States and other major
donor
countries,
Mr. Arlacchi has also met with James D. Wolfensohn, the president of the
World
Bank. The bank previously did not regard drug eradication as a
development
issue,
Mr. Arlacchi said, but ''now the World Bank body is starting slowly to

change its
attitude.''