US: Results of Drug Spraying Unclear

By GEORGE GEDDA Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP)--U.S.-backed Colombian police sprayed nearly twice as many acres of coca in Colombia last year in the fight against cocaine, but the impact on overall production is still unclear, the State Department said Friday.

A CIA report on Colombian production figures is expected to be made public by the White House next week.

The numbers should help evaluate the success of the stepped-up U.S.-Colombian effort to combat rampant coca production in Colombia, by far the world's largest producer. Coca is the raw material for cocaine.

Data on Colombia and virtually all other countries worldwide was contained in the annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report.

The report said more than 200,000 acres of coca were sprayed in Colombia last year--almost twice as much as in 2000.

Colombian officials said Thursday their figures show a dramatic reduction in coca cultivation in 2001. In contrast, the State Department said that although final figures were not available at the time of publication there was probably an increase.

In recent years, production in Colombia has steadily gone up but the rate of increase has been declining.

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