Major Drug Policy Points

MAJOR DRUG POLICY POINTS – October 10, 2001

By Robert S. Weiner, President, Robert Weiner Associates Public Affairs and Issue Strategies; former Director of Public Affairs, White House National Drug Policy Office

THOSE WHO SAY FEDERAL DRUG POLICY IS FAILING ARE WRONG. COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY WORKING.
TEEN DRUG USE (12-17) DROPPED 21% LAST 2 YEARS (HOUSEHOLD SURVEY), 34% LAST 3 YEARS (PRIDE); 12-13 YEAR OLDS USE 23% DROP LAST YEAR ALONE (HOUSEHOLD).
AMERICA’S OVERALL DRUG USE HAS DECLINED ALMOST 50% IN LAST TWO DECADES (FROM 26 MILLION DOWN TO 14 MILLION MONTHLY USERS--USED TO BE CALLED CASUAL USERS BUT MONTHLY USE NOT CASUAL).
COCAINE USE DOWN 67%.
AMERICA’S TEAM EFFORT IS WORKING: PARENTS TOGETHER WITH COMMUNITY COALITIONS, TEACHERS, COACHES,
PEDIATRICIANS, MEDIA, AND LAW ENFORCEMENT. NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE. DISSERVICE TO THOSE WORKING HARD, AND INACCURATE, TO ASSERT DRUG WAR IS FAILING. NOW 6,000 COMMUNITY ANTI-DRUG COALITIONS.
ON SUPPLY SIDE, ANDEAN COCA PRODUCTION IS DOWN (PERU AND BOLIVIA BOTH DOWN 60% LAST 5 YEARS; COLOMBIA SEEKING SIMILAR 50% REDUCTION OVER 5 YEARS). UN SAYS THAT SINCE 1994 WORLDWIDE COCAINE DOWN 20% AND HEROIN DOWN 15%. STATES THE UN: “WE MUST END THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DESPAIR.”
COLOMBIA SOURCE OF 90% OF US COCAINE AND 70% OF HEROIN SEIZED. ERADICATED 120,000 ACRES OF COCAINE FIRST YEAR OF PLAN COLOMBIA. FARC DESPERATELY WANTS PLAN COLOMBIA TO FAIL BECAUSE DRUGS IS SOURCE OF THEIR FUNDS. MUST BE CAREFUL OF FARC’S “PEACE” PRESS, AS WELL AS THE AUC/ELN.
MEXICO ALSO RAVAGED BY CORRUPTION BUT WORKING HARD. LAST YEAR OVER 50% INCREASE OF THEIR SEIZURES OF METHAMPHETAMINE, HEROIN, MARIJUANA, AND ALSO DRUG LABS. MEXICO ERADICATES MORE DRUGS THAN ANY NATION ON EARTH.
GOAL # 1 OF NATIONAL STRATEGY IS EDUCATION AND PREVENTION FOR CHILDREN, TO REDUCE ILLEGAL DRUGS, AS WELL AS ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO.
MEDIA CAMPAIGN—PAID AND MATCHED ADS—REACHING 94% OF PARENTS AND YOUTH 7X/WK.
THOSE WHO PUSH LEGALIZATION ARE JUST DEAD WRONG: PARENTS KNOW THAT TAKING AWAY THE NORMATIVE POWER AND INCENTIVE OF THE LAW WOULD INCREASE USE, AND INCREASE CAR CRASHES, EMERGENCY ROOM CASES, SCHOOL DROPOUTS, AND WORK ABSENCES. IT WOULD BE A DISASTER.
LEGALIZATION WOULD INCREASE, NOT DECREASE CRIME AND IMPRISONMENT: JUST LOOK AT THE ALCOHOL NUMBERS.
STATISTICS SHOW THAT OTHER DRUGS, INCLUDING MARIJUANA, DRAMATICALLY INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATE RAPE AND OTHER CRIMES WOULD BE SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER. LEGALIZATION WOULD EFFECTIVELY BE NIHILISM, CHAOS, AND INCREASED USE.
WE AGREE WITH THOSE WHO SAY WE MUST INCREASE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT: IN FACT THEY SHOULD HAVE LITTLE CRITICISM SINCE WE HAVE INCREASED PREVENTION DOLLARS 55% AND TREATMENT 34% IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS.
TREATMENT TO STOP CRIME IS HIGH PRIORITY BY LINKING THE JUSTICE SYSTEM TO DRUG TREATMENT: EXPANDING DRUG COURTS (PROVIDE TREATMENT INSTEAD OF IMPRISONMENT) UP FROM 6 TO 800 LAST 6 YEARS, AND TREATMENT AND TESTING FOR PEOPLE IN PRISONS, ON PAROLE, AND ON PROBATION.
BIRMINGHAM, AL HAS A FEDERAL DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM FOR ARRESTEES THAT PROVED SO SUCCESSFUL THEY STOPPED BUILDING A PRISON
62% OF ARRESTEES IN 30 CITIES TESTED POSITIVE LAST YEAR FOR ILLEGAL DRUGS, COMPARED TO 6% OF OVERALL POPULATION WHO USED DRUGS IN LAST MONTH: REMARKABLE INDICATOR OF LINK BETWEEN DRUGS AND CRIME.
DRUG CRIME, DRUG MURDERS, DEALER TURF WARS PLUMMETING TO NEW LOWS AS CRACK USE HAS WANED.
NEED TO CHANGE TRADITIONAL THINKING ABOUT TREATMENT: COERCED TREATMENT IS NOT SOFT; IT STOPS CRIME. ALSO SHOULD PROVIDE PARITY FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT IN HEALTH INSURANCE: COST EFFECTIVE.
MORE POLICE AND BETTER COORDINATION AMONG FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ALSO PART OF THE REASON FOR REDUCED DRUGS AND CRIME. HIDTAS NOW AT 28, UP FROM 8 10 YEARS AGO. ALSO, CTAC TECH TRANSFER NOW REACHES 2500 POLICE DEPARTMENTS.
EXPANDING METHADONE, WITH APPROPRIATE SAFEGUARDS AND TRAINING, TO STOP HEROIN ADDICTION. EDUCATION ALSO KEY. LATEST NUMBERS SHOW DRAMATIC HEROIN REDUCTIONS.
SCIENTIFIC FRONTIERS: DEVELOPING COCAINE BLOCKER VACCINE; BRAIN SCANNERS NOW SHOW DRUG ABUSE.

ADDITIONAL CONTROVERSIES:

SO-CALLED “MEDICAL” MARIJUANA: SCIENCE NOT POLITICS MUST DETERMINE WHAT IS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE MEDICINE.
REMEMBER LAETRILE AS “CURE” FOR CANCER—22 STATES LEGALIZED IT IN 60’S AND 70’S, TURNED OUT TO BE APRICOT PITS, USELESS MEDICAL GARBAGE, ENCOURAGING AVOIDANCE OF EFFECTIVE CURES.
FREE NEEDLE EXCHANGE: TWO SIDES: MAY PREVENT SOME AIDS EXPOSURE BUT THE SCIENCE SHOWS TRIPLING OF DRUG-ADDICTED POPULATION WHERE NEEDLES PROVIDED, AND PROBABLE INCREASES IN AIDS NUMBERS.
THE MOVIE TRAFFIC: WRITTEN BY A COCAINE USER, IMPLIES FAILURE OF DRUG WAR. IGNORES THE REALITIES ABOVE AND IS A REAL DISSERVICE TO EVERYONE WORKING HARD TO REDUCE DRUG ABUSE IN AMERICA. MOREOVER THE MOVIE DID NOT INVENT THE CONCEPT OF DRUG TREATMENT.
TERRORISM FUNDED BY DRUG TRAFFICKING: TALIBAN/BIN LADEN IN AFGHANISTAN, #1 WORLD OPIUM AND HEROIN; COLOMBIA #1 WORLD COCAINE, FARC/AUC/ELN. DRUG MONEY LAUNDERING $200-400 BILLION WORLDWIDE.