23 nations on Bush's drug list

www.upi.com By Anwar Iqbal From the International Desk Published 1/31/2003 4:06 PM

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Key U.S. allies are on President Bush's list Friday of 23 countries designated as major producers or transit routes of illicit drugs.

Besides China and India, two key allies in the war against terror -- Afghanistan and Pakistan -- are also on the list.

Myanmar, Guatemala and Haiti are the only countries labeled as those that have failed to control drug producing and trafficking. Others on the list have been effective in curbing drug production and trafficking and therefore are exempted from punitive action, the White House said.

Guatemala and Haiti will continue to receive U.S. economic assistance, however, because the administration believes it is in Washington's interest to do so.

The former Burma, however, faces U.S. sanctions as a major drug producer.

"The major drug-transit or illicit drug producing countries on the list are: Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam.

"The president ... reported to Congress his determinations that Burma, Guatemala, and Haiti failed demonstrably, during the previous 12 months, to adhere to their obligations under international counter-narcotics agreements and to take the measures set forth in U.S. anti-drug law," the White House said.

Bush's report also noted the alarming increase in the quantity of ecstasy, or MDMA, entering the United States, of which a significant amount is manufactured clandestinely in the Netherlands. Bush expressed concern that Canada is a primary source of pseudoephedrine, which is exported to the United States and used in clandestine drug laboratories to make methamphetamines. Canada has also become a growing source of high-potency marijuana.

Bush said the administration will continue to work closely with the governments of the Netherlands and Canada to address these issues.

The White House sends this annual list to Congress, of the major illicit drug producing and drug-transiting countries.

The president must consider each country's performance in areas such as illicit drug cultivation, drug trafficker extradition, and law enforcement efforts to prevent and punish corruption that facilitates drug trafficking or impedes drug crime prosecution.

The president also has to consider efforts to stop the production and export of illegal drugs.