In Bolivia, 4 to 5 percent of youth are habitual users, while in Colombia, drug abuse was the seventh leading cause of psychiatric morbidity in 1984. A survey in Peru indicated that 37 percent of secondary school students use drugs -- cocaine paste was the majority's first drug. While the demand for illicit cocaine has increased worldwide, its cultivation has drastically increased in the Andean subregion. The basic document for the subregion and its protocol, as well as two meetings of the ministers of health of the members countries, emphasized the need to deal with the problems of drug abuse. 25 references. (Author abstract modified)