If you want to know why the U.S. government�s war on drugs doesn�t amount to a hill of beans, just consider what�s happening in the coffee industry.

While prices at your favorite up-scale coffee shop�and the profits for coffee corporations�are shooting through the roof, the dirt-poor peasant coffee farmers of South America are being laid off in droves because prices for coffee beans have fallen to an all-time low.

The resulting increased poverty is further weakening the stability of South American countries�particularly Colombia�and driving the peasant workers into the jungles to work in coca fields, the plant from which cocaine is derived. Or to work in the laboratories where the coca paste is produced. All of this takes place under the watchful eyes of guerilla fighters or paramilitary troops or even government troops who want to skim some of the profits for themselves.

Meanwhile, the United States is pouring $1.3 billion of U.S. taxpayers� money into a "war on drugs" plan in Colombia focused on 1) stabilizing the government; 2) spraying coca fields to encourage farmers to grow other products; and 3) buying weapons for the Colombian military.

The full blame for the failed drug policy shouldn�t be laid at President Bush�s table. But he has an opportunity to have a major impact on one of the country�s gravest ills if he would only do the right thing.

The doomed-to-failure Plan Colombia occurred under Bill Clinton. And the Reagan administration forced the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement, a pact between coffee producing and consuming nations that guaranteed a fair price for the product.

That pact was ground to pieces in 1989, leading to deregulation, when prices plummeted.

And don�t forget that the North American Free Trade Agreement opened the gates a little wider for the free flow of these drugs across the border.

Bush�s foreign policy advisers must re-examine U.S. efforts south of the border and refocus that $1.3 billion toward helping to reduce drug trafficking, but also establishing peace in the regions and investing in development programs. But more importantly, U.S. policy-makers must re-examine what anti-drug efforts are taking place within the United States.

Less than 25 percent of the annual $19 billion U.S. drug control budget reportedly goes toward treatment. Contrary to U.S. policy belief, drying up the supply will do nothing but drive up the price for whatever supply is available.

If Bush focuses on driving down the demand�U.S. citizens consume 75 percent of the cocaine from Colombia�then he will have saved many lives in this country where drugs have fueled murder and mayhem.

He will also be hailed as a hero in many South American countries where peasant farmers will be able to grow crops that foster peace instead of war, and get a decent price for doing it.