By Colleen Hoffman

March 4, 1999 The US's way of curbing poppy in the use of illegal drugs has both Colombian and American citizens feeling uneasy. Arturo Pinzon, a Colombian native said, the US doesn't realize what they have gotten themselves into by interfering with the poppy crops.

"The United States has dropped tons of weedkiller on many of our hard working farmer's crops, destroying them. It is absolutely devastating to see what a man has worked on his whole life get ruined by the US, and there is nothing they [the farmers] could have done differently to prevent this at the time," said Pinzon.

According to the Washington Post, because of the trend in heroin, the Clinton Administration is no longer focusing exclusively on coca for cocaine products, but fighting the growth of heroin.

The US currently gives $289 million annually to the anti-drug aid, making Colombia the largest recipient of US aid in the Western Hemisphere. The assaults on the Colombian crops are nothing new, but are usually on other crops, such as coca, the leafy plant used to make cocaine. The US has redirected their trafficking efforts towards poppy since heroin and opium are now widely created in Colombia. Alan Rodriguez, a Colombian citizen, said he understands why the US got involved, but since he has lived among the farmers first-hand, feels for their side too.

"The US has always been involved in what Colombia produces and what comes out of Colombia and into the US. I do believe that it is a positive thing that the US gets involved and is watching out for the rest of the world, but we must look at both sides of the story." Rodriguez adds, "The men and women who work on these crops, live by these crops. It is their only source of income and if they lose it, what will they have?" According to the Washington Post, 75 percent of the heroin seized in the United States came from Colombia, which five years ago produced no heroin. The US realizes that poppy is on a dramatic rise and is attempting to step in before the problem worsens.

Donnie Marshall, the Drug Enforcement Administration's acting deputy director, feels that something must be done now, regardless if it is or will hurt the farmer's incomes. "The drugs that are being made with the poppy are illegal. Period. The US has to do their part by getting involved and stopping the production. It is our job to prohibit and control this problem before more harmful ones are created," said Marshall. Marshall also added that if the statistics are studied, the drug problem is obviously rooted in Colombia and that is where action must be taken.

"The Colombians dropped the price of the heroin and greatly increased the product's 810,000 heroin users in the US, up form 600,00 in the past three years due to the decrease in price and purity of the drug," said Marshall. Marshall said that not only can the drug be injected, but also smoked or inhaled because of the form it is in. This makes the drug easier to use so more people are using.

Vernon Vavrino, an International Politics professor at Marist College says that the US are the cause of the drug problem because they are the people that request and use the drugs. "My personal belief is that the way to approach the drug problem should be basically, but not exclusively, to look at the US demand side of the equation." He added, "As long as American's crave their drugs, someone, somewhere, will be willing to produce raw materials. Vavrino also said that the poor in Latin and South America have been doing this [farming] for countless generations.

This decline in income could be predicted since Colombian farmers have had problems with their illegal crops in the past.