WHEN the Clinton administration announced Wednesday its annual list of countries that it had ``certified'' as reliable allies in the war on drugs, the reaction in much of Latin America was the same: ``And what about the United States?''

Consider: While the administration singled out Paraguay and Haiti as less-than-perfect drug fighters, the United States remains by far the largest single drug market, which pays for much of the drug cartels' business.

There are 14 million illicit drug users in the United States, including 3.6 million cocaine users. Thirty-six percent of all Americans aged 12 and older have used an illegal drug in their lifetime, according to U.S. State Department figures.

U.S. consumers spend between $40 billion and $150 billion a year on illicit drugs, depending on whether you want to believe government estimates or those of academic analysts who say the administration underplays the real figures.

The number of methamphetamine laboratories in U.S. territory is skyrocketing, according to Drug Enforcement Administration figures. DEA seizures of methamphetamine labs rose from 218 in 1993 to more than 1,600 labs in 1998.

The United States has become a major marijuana producer, perhaps the biggest in the Western Hemisphere. Marijuana production in California, Hawaii, Kentucky and Tennessee has grown so much, that we now export marijuana to Canada.

The United States is the largest exporter of small weapons, which are routinely used by Latin American drug cartels to murder law enforcement agents. Latin American countries have long requested a U.S. curb on arms smuggling, but the United States has yet to sign the 1997 Inter-American Convention against Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking of Firearms.

U.S. banks have been used by drug cartels to launder dirty money. Up to $300 million of the estimated $2 billion that moves daily through wire transfers within the U.S. banking system is laundered money, according to a recent U.N. report.

On a recent visit to Mexico, several Cabinet members told me the same thing: Drug trafficking is a global problem, in which the United States plays no small part. White House drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey concedes as much during his trips to Latin America, but the point gets pretty much lost in Washington.

U.S. officials reject criticism that the certification policy is hypocritical. They say the U.S. annual evaluation is aimed at assessing countries' efforts to fight drugs, and the United States has succeeded in reducing overall drug use rates by nearly half since the 1970s, when 25 million Americans consumed illegal drugs.

But critics note that youth drug use has gone up, which could reverse the trend.

``My report card on the United States is a B,'' says Bruce Bagley, a University of Miami drug policy expert. ``We talk about our successes and don't talk about our failures.''

Perhaps the annual White House drug evaluation should include a new chapter, looking into whether the certifier should be certified.

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© 2000 Mercury Center.