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GAO-03-319R 1 (2003-01-08)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaamdf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 January 8, 2003 The Honorable Charles H. Taylor House of Representatives Subject: Drug Control: Coca Cultivation and Eradication Estimates in Colombia Dear Mr. Taylor: Colombia is the world's leading producer and distributor of cocaine and a significant supplier of heroin to the United States. According to the Department of State, Colombia provides about 90 percent of the cocaine entering the United States and approximately two-thirds of the heroin found on the East Coast. A key objective of the U.S. counternarcotics strategy is to assist Colombia in its efforts to reduce the amount of illicit drug crops being cultivated in the country. Under the Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the Office of Aviation supports the Colombian National Police's efforts to eradicate coca and opium poppy through aerial eradication.1 In March 2002, the Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), reported that coca cultivation in Colombia increased by 25 percent between 2000 and 2001-from 136,200 hectares2 to 169,800 hectares-despite Colombian eradication efforts. These estimates were prepared by the U.S. Director of Central Intelligence, Crime and Narcotics Center (CNC). However, U.S. Embassy in Bogota officials questioned the reported increase, noting that the number of hectares of coca the Office of Aviation estimated eradicated in 2001 had increased 4 substantially over previous years. As the result of earlier concerns about the coca cultivation estimates in Colombia, in November 2001, ONDCP had initiated an evaluation of CNC and the Office of Aviation methodologies for estimating coca 'The leaves of the coca plant are the raw ingredient of cocaine and opium poppy is used to produce heroin. The plants are sprayed from low-flying airplanes with an herbicide that attacks the root system. 2A hectare is 2.47 acres. 3CNC's estimates are presented in its report titled Latin American Narcotics Cultivation and Production, Estimates 2001 (Washington, D.C.: March 2002). 4At about the same time, the government of Colombia's coca cultivation estimate for the same period showed a net decrease of 11 percent. The Colombian government numbers are from the United Nations' Drug Control Program's report Colombia: Annual Coca Cultivation Survey 2001 (Bogoti: March 2002). GAO-03-319R Coca Estimates in Colombia

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