    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [February 6, 1998]
    [Pages 193-194]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on the United States-Mexico Binational Drug Strategy
    February 6, 1998

        I welcome the release today, with the Government of Mexico, of the
    U.S.-Mexico Binational Drug Strategy. This strategy lays out the
    concrete actions our two governments will take to fulfill the 16 goals
    set out in our Alliance Against Drugs, including dismantling the
    criminal organizations that purvey these poisons, sustaining our success
    in reducing drug demand, and removing obstacles to even closer law
    enforcement cooperation with Mexico.

    [[Page 194]]

        This strategy is guided by the principle that drug trafficking and
    drug abuse are shared international threats and that we can only defeat
    them by acting in common, with our other international partners. Our
    common efforts will uphold the sovereignty and rule of law which drug
    trafficking organizations seek to erode.
        We are making great progress in the fight against drugs, but we
    cannot let up our efforts now. The fiscal year 1999 budget I proposed
    contains an increase of nearly $500 million, to over $5.8 billion for
    drug demand reduction, the largest total ever. I have also asked
    Congress to fund an additional 1,000 law enforcement officers for our
    borders, so we can slam the door on drugs where they enter. Working with
    Mexico and our other partners in the hemisphere, we are developing new
    ways to strengthen multilateral efforts against drugs, to promote the
    synergies that can bolster our success.
        The test of this strategy will be its results. I am pleased that the
    U.S.-Mexico High Level Contact Group Against Drugs, chaired on our side
    by General Barry McCaffrey, is proceeding
    immediately to develop agreed measures of performance that will tell us
    if and how well our strategy is succeeding, and how to continue
    strengthening our counternarcotics partnership with Mexico.