Inquiry Urged on Chemicals Used by Traffickers

A senator Thursday called on the Bush Administration to investigate whether chemicals exported by U.S. manufacturers are being used by drug traffickers in Latin America as an ingredient to produce cocaine.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a letter to Drug Control Policy Director William J. Bennett that his concern was prompted by a Dec. 5 report in The Times that the vast majority of the chemicals used in cocaine production originate in the United States.

“If these reports are true, major American companies are making a buck off of the drug epidemic,” Reid wrote to Bennett.

“As drug czar, you must investigate this abhorrent possibility,” he said. “You must also take immediate action to stop this murderous and unlawful activity if these reports are . . .true.”

The senator raised particular questions about the role played by the Exxon Corp., a principal exporter to Colombia of a solvent known as methyl ethyl ketone. The Times reported that 90% of the MEK imported by Colombia is believed to be diverted for cocaine production.

Bennett was traveling with President Bush on Thursday and had not yet seen the letter, his spokesman said.

The anti-drug strategy that Bennett drafted this year calls for stringent controls on the export of MEK, acetone and other “essential chemicals.”