Peru: The Growing U.S. Challenge in the War on Drugs

Peru is rapidly becoming an important producer of opium poppy — the heroin flower. Some Peruvian heroin will be shipped to the United States, but most will be sold in fast-growing regional markets — and in Europe. The Bush administration will use the bad news about Peru in its congressional lobbying campaign to obtain more than $730 million in anti-drug and counterterrorism funds for Colombia and other Andean countries, including Peru and politically unstable Bolivia and Ecuador.