The delivery of the drug package took place at 23:00 local time the same day by throwing to a boat, which pulled alongside the ship.

There was no formal Government reaction, but one official hailed President Bush's drug package as "a more balanced approach."

The drug package would cost $7.8 billion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, about $2 billion more than in the current fiscal year.

Look-alike drug names and drug packages are common variables that lead to selection errors.

Plain abdominal films have limited success in identifying drug packages, with false negative rates of 1.2% to 33%.

The new drug package creates a number of new offenses designed to go beyond the street pusher and bring in leaders of drug networks.

The calendar packs were drug packages designed so that the people using them could take one tablet every other day without losing count.

They ranged from the size of type required on drug packages to standards for lifesaving heart defibrillators.

The investigation found 88 percent of the 2,069 drug packages examined appeared to be prescription medicines available in the United States.

But the agency is requiring an unusually lengthy explanation of the dangers and uncertainties to be placed in the drug package.