[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 23, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




REPORT ON WESTERN HEMISPHERE DRUG ALLIANCE--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT 
                          OF THE UNITED STATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection, referred to the 
Committee on International Relations:

To the Congress of the United States:
  I am pleased to provide the attached report on a Western Hemisphere 
Drug Alliance in accordance with the provisions of section 2807 of the 
``Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998.'' This report 
underscores the Administration's commitment to enhancing multilateral 
counternarcotics cooperation in the region.
  Strengthening international narcotics control is one of my 
Administration's top foreign policy priorities. Because of the 
transnational nature of the Western Hemisphere drug trafficking threat, 
we have made enhanced multilateral cooperation a central feature of our 
regional drug control strategy. Our counternarcotics diplomacy, foreign 
assistance, and operations have focussed increasingly on making this 
objective a reality.
  We are succeeding. Thanks to U.S. leadership in the Summit of the 
Americas, the Organization of American States, and other regional fora, 
the countries of the Western Hemisphere are taking the drug threat more 
seriously and responding more aggressively. South American cocaine 
organizations that were once regarded as among the largest and most 
violent crime syndicates in the world have been dismantled, and the 
level of coca cultivation is now plummeting as fast as it was once sky-
rocketing. We are also currently working through the Organization of 
American States to create a counternarcotics multilateral evaluation 
mechanism in the hemisphere. These examples reflect fundamental 
narcotics control progress that was nearly unimaginable a few years 
ago.
  While much remains to be done, I am confident that the Administration 
and the Congress, working together, can bolster cooperation in the 
hemisphere, accelerate this progress, and significantly diminish the 
drug threat to the American people. I look forward to your continued 
support and cooperation in this critical area.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, February 23, 1999.

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