American Notes DRUGS

Will the next conscript in the war on drugs be an inch-long, greenish-white beastie with a taste for coca leaves? The idea of bombarding the high mountain valleys of Bolivia and Peru with millions of eggs from the malunya moth, which in its caterpillar stage loves to munch on the foliage of the cocaine- producing plant, got a lot of play in Washington last week.

But, for all its appeal to environmentalists, the notion of pitting bugs against drugs may never be hatched. Bolivia and Peru object that the insects could inflict damage on citrus and other legal crops. Said White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater: "We are not undertaking any biological war. Neither troops nor caterpillars will go in without prior request and consultation."