Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
From: [e--w] at [hip.atr.co.jp] (Eric Woudenberg)
Subject: Senator D'Amato blasts the National Drug Control Strategy
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 10:49:09 GMT

[This is a speech delivered in the US Senate on March 22. I retrieved
it from the Thomas WWW site: http://thomas.loc.gov/]

THE 1995 NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY (Senate - March 22, 1995)
Sen. D'AMATO

Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the subject of drugs . The
Office of National Drug Control Policy [ONDCP] has now released its annual
National Drug Control Strategy, dated February 1995. I regret that this
strategy continues in the direction established in the 1994 strategy, a
direction I strongly criticized at the time. The administration has produced
another deeply flawed document that will not advance the war against drugs .

In this document the administration outlines its priorities for dealing with
illicit drugs . the document extols treatment and prevention as the primary
tools in combating the drug problem. The strategy never addresses interdiction.
It stresses policy changes to enhance the administration's demand side approach
to dealing with the flood of foreign illegal drugs entering the United States,
rather than enforcement efforts.

The document is 150 pages long, with a 45 page long list of consultants. The
strategy frequently contradicts itself from one chapter to the next in its
interpretation of its findings, whether the findings were based on surveys or
medical reports. This strategy provides an overinflated justification for
expanded treatment and prevention efforts, without ever dealing with the
underlying problem of the ease with which illegal drugs can be obtained.

Furthermore, this document attempts to distinguish between the drug user and
the drug dealer, claiming one is a public health problem while the other is a
criminal. The truth of the matter is that both using and dealing are criminal
violations and the dealer could not exist, much less profit, without the user.
Drug dealers can only be arrested by working through drug users. Therefore,
enforcement efforts against users should not be curtailed, but instead
reinforced.

Some of the contradictions contained within the report are serious. The report
begins with a strategy overview which would lend the impression that
enforcement was going to be a major theme in the strategy. This does not turn
out to be the case. Under the section entitled `Principles for Responding to
Illicit Drug Use', on page 10, the report states: `To ensure the safety of our
communities, certainty of punishment must be promoted for all drug
offenders--particularly young offenders. All offenders must receive appropriate
punishment when they first encounter the criminal justice system.' This theme
is further advanced on page 12, section entitled `Action Plans for Responding
to America's Drug Problem' where it states `Use the authority of the criminal
justice system to require drug -using offenders to stop taking drugs ; Punish
the criminal activities of drug users and sellers.'

This theme is immediately contradicted by a subsequent passage that states:
`This Strategy recognizes that Americans make a distinction between drug
dealers and drug users when stating how policies should be developed and
carried out. Recent public opinion polls indicate that Americans believe that
drug dealers deserve tough criminal sanctions and that drug users should have
the opportunity for intensive treatment to break their dependence on drugs .'
This directly contradicts the previous message of punishment for both users and
dealers. This section further contradicts the need for strong enforcement
action when it states: `The Action Plan for Reducing the Demand for Illicit
Drugs emphasized drug prevention as the ultimate key to ensuring [sic] the
future of the Nation's children.'

While demand reduction is the ultimate key to victory in the war on drugs ,
this approach completely disregards the immediate problems of the availability
of illicit drugs , the monetary rewards for dealing illegal drugs , and the
constant flow of illegal drugs into the United States. furthermore, most drug
dealers are also drug users. How are the courts to differentiate between the
classes of criminals as described within this strategy?

Law enforcement efforts and the criminal penalties for illegal drug activities
directly affect drug availability, financial incentives for drug trafficking,
and the flow of these illegal drugs . Once the supply is reduced, then
treatment can be effective to further reduce demand.