As Secretary of State Colin Powell prepares to visit Colombia this week, questions are emerging about the role of the United States in that war-torn South American country.

Washington has pledged $1.3 billion in military and financial assistance to Colombia this year. Eighty percent of that is military aid – money that pays for the government’s efforts to eradicate the vast coca and poppy plantations that produce 90 percent of the U.S. cocaine supply and 65 percent of U.S. heroin imports.

But evidence indicates that the policy isn’t working.

• Narcotics production is one of the most lucrative businesses in the world. More land is devoted to coca and poppy production than ever before, and drugs are cheaper to buy and more plentiful than ever.
  
  
• Legal crops meant to feed peasants are often fumigated. Fumigation also contaminates water supplies.
  
  
• The drug war and related violence have displaced some 1.9 million Colombians.
  
  
• The economic impact of drug abuse and drug-related violence in the United States is estimated by the government to be more than $110 billion a year.
  
  
• Some critics contend that the U.S. anti-drug effort is tied to Colombia’s production of another resource in high demand: oil.