Reuters: Senators ask US drug czar to explain rosy reports

[Eugene]

Senators ask US drug czar to explain rosy reports
Fri Apr 28, 2006 3:38pm ET

By Bernd Debusmann, Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. drug czar has been challenged to explain disputed statistics
underlying a string of rosy reports on progress in cutting the flow of cocaine from South
America, one of which prompted an expert to liken the official numbers to "lipstick on a pig."

The request came in a detailed 1,800-word letter to John Walters, director of the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), from Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican
chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control.

The Iowa senator expressed concern that the ONDCP has been picking data "to provide a rosier
but not necessarily more accurate picture" on the multi-billion dollar effort to eradicate coca
plantations in Colombia, the world's top producer of cocaine, Bolivia and Peru.

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Full article: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2006-04-28T193756Z_01_N28445663_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-COCAINE.xml