[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 6 (Monday, February 9, 1998)]
[Page 223]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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.
    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.