[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 8 (Monday, March 1, 1999)]
[Page 288]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress Transmitting a Report on a Western Hemisphere 
Drug Alliance

February 23, 1999

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 focused 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.