Drug War: Observations on the U.S. International Drug Control Strategy

GAO discussed federal agencies' strategies and efforts to stop the production and trafficking of narcotics. GAO noted that: (1) cocaine interdiction efforts have been refocused from stopping cocaine in transit to stopping it in its source countries; (2) agencies are having difficulty shifting resources to source countries and are concerned that transit interdiction programs will be harmed by a lack of resources; (3) a long-delayed heroin strategy is awaiting the President's approval; (4) the United States must make difficult choices between drug interdiction and other important foreign policy objectives, and drug interdiction programs are often given lesser priority; (5) there is a lack of interagency coordination and leadership for counternarcotics efforts; (6) there is a lack of accountability for U.S. counternarcotics foreign assistance funds and there is little monitoring of foreign governments' end use of the funds; and (7) some foreign governments' unwillingness to participate, lack of resources, and corruption impede their actions to combat the drug trade.