"The prices have not gone up since Plan Colombia began," said Donnie Marshall, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). "There are many that think the cocaine market is saturated now in the United States."

The U.S. is the world's top cocaine-consuming nation. Plan Colombia, which is backed by the U.S., is designed to curb production of the drug in Latin America.

According to the DEA, the U.S. street prices for cocaine have remained stable at up to $36,000 per kilo since Plan Colombia was implemented.

The DEA's 2000 report on Colombia indicated that the country could produce up to 580 tons of cocaine, double its potential five years ago. Furthermore, a new United Nations report stated that Colombia's production capacity could be as high as 800 tons per year.

Marshall noted that cocaine traffickers have started to create new markets in Europe and the former Soviet Union. "They're not focusing on increasing their markets inside the United States," Marshall said. "Rather, we see that many of these organizations are looking toward Europe and the former Soviet Union for creating their new markets."

Marshall noted that the shift in trafficking could be a result of successful joint U.S.-Colombian anti-drug efforts, rather than an oversupply of cocaine in the United States.

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