From: [w--y--e] at [mathematik.uni-Bremen.de] (Wayne Tvedt)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Re: The Cost of WOD
Date: 10 Dec 1993 10:31:11 GMT

Charlie Byrne ([b--r--e] at [rcf.rsmas.miami.edu]) wrote:
>I have been throwing around for a while a figure of $10 billion per year 
>for the government cost of WOD. I do not remember where I got this
>figure. I need a reference for this or any accurate figure please.

The figure proposed in March for the recently-approved budget was
$13.04 billion.  Some people wanted to whittle off parts of it,
or change the 2:1 enforcement:treatment balance.

article:

from the Austin American Statesman, Saturday May 8, 1993.  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                 Reno questions effectiveness of war on drugs,
                           wants to stress treatment

                 by Ronald J. Ostrow, Los Angeles Times Service

Signaling a possible major shift in U.S. drug policy, Attorney General Janet
Reno on Friday questioned the effectiveness of massive federal spending to cut
off the flow of illicit drugs entering the United States.

In a veiled criticism of the Bush administration's war on drugs, Reno expressed
doubts about the wisdom of spending billions of dollars a year on drug
interdiction and instead vowed to take steps that would make treatment for drug
abusers more widely available.

Citing federal statistics, Reno told a conference of drug control specialists
here that the interdiction campaigns favored by the previous administrations
halted only 25 percent  of the drugs flowing in from abroad.  To bring about anymeasurable impact on the U.S. drug trade, 75 percent of the flow would have to
be stopped, she added.

Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on
crime and criminal justice, went further than reno.  He branded the
international eradication and interdiction effort "a near total failure."

He cited estimates that a field of opium poppies just 20 square miles in size
could produce enough heroin for the annual U.S. demand and that Amercan's
cocaine usage could be met by four 747 cargo planes, or 13 tractor-trailers,
carrying pure cocaine.

That shows the difficulty of eliminating drug shipments, Schumer said.  He
called for shifting much of the nearly $3 billion spent annually on foreigh
interdiction to "demand side treatment programs that work, while still allowing
us to have a strong law enforcement effort at home."

Reno also stressed the need for greater attention to drug treatment programs,
reintegrating offenders into the community and more careful delineation between
the prosecutorial responsibilities of federal and state officials.

She also criticized  the current minimum mandatory sentencing of drug offenders,which she said was done with "no regard to whether we have the prison cells to
match the sentences."

"it's going to lead again to a lack of credibility in the system and a faith
that it means what it says," Reno said.

Seh said that, instead of minimum mandatory sentencing, she favors "alternative
sanctions that work like a carrot and stick approach, a program that says look,
you need job training and placement because if you come back out into the
community, you're not going to have the resources or ability to cope.  This
nation has got to make sure that every person who wants drug treatment, who's
asking for it, who's on a waiting list, gets it."



>It could help convince a potential future politician that something 
>is wrong with government spending priorities.

or maybe not.


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