cannabisnews.com: Bush's $19 Billion Antidrug Plan Bush's $19 Billion Antidrug Plan Posted by FoM on February 13, 2002 at 08:11:49 PT By Christopher Marquis Source: New York Times President Bush today unveiled a $19 billion national antidrug strategy that gives renewed impetus to law enforcement at home and abroad and calls for "compassionate coercion" to get addicts into treatment.Asserting that illegal drugs kill as many as 20,000 Americans a year and cost the health care system almost $15 billion, Mr. Bush set a goal of reducing drug use nationally by 25 percent over the next five years. "Drugs attack everything that is best about this country, and I intend to do something about them," Mr. Bush said in a White House ceremony that was attended by a handful of lawmakers and the drug policy chief, John P. Walters.The sharpest increase in the budget over last year was a 10 percent rise in financing for interdiction. That effort to stop drugs at their source, or while they are in transit, includes hundreds of millions for eradication efforts and police work in South America as well as more money for the Coast Guard and border patrols.The $2.3 billion interdiction budget bore the imprint of Mr. Walters, who has long advocated stronger enforcement.Mr. Walters, a top antinarcotics official in the administration of the president's father, quit in protest in 1993 when President Bill Clinton announced a shift away from law enforcement toward coping with addiction.Mr. Bush linked the fight against drugs to the battle against terrorism, saying groups like the Taliban in Afghanistan financed their attacks in part through narcotics trafficking."You know I'm asked all the time, `How can I help fight against terror? And what can I do, what can I as a citizen do to defend America?' " Mr. Bush said. "Well, one thing you can do is not purchase illegal drugs."As if to underscore the enforcement drive, officials have notified Congress that they intend to resume American counternarcotics flights over Colombia and Peru. Those flights were suspended last year after a Peruvian fighter jet, alerted by a Central Intelligence Agency aircraft, shot down a plane carrying American missionaries, killing two.A Senate panel sharply criticized the C.I.A. for lax oversight and demanded new safeguards, which the administration says it is putting in place. Control of the surveillance flights will be transferred from the C.I.A. to another government agency, officials said. The national strategy calls for a 6 percent increase in spending on treatment, allocating $1.6 billion over the next five years. Money will be targeted for the most vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, the homeless, people with H.I.V. and teenagers, the president said.Some critics said the administration should be vastly increasing spending for treatment, noting a 7-to- 1 disparity in favor of law enforcement."Unless the president commits to funding treatment and controlling demand at the same level as supply reduction," said Rachel King, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, "the administration will inevitably fail in its goal of cutting drug use by a full quarter by 2007." The president's strategy calls for the creation of a "new climate of compassionate coercion" to persuade drug users to seek treatment. It seeks to enlist the help of family members, friends and employers, as well as the police and groups tied to religion, to break through addicts' denial. Mr. Bush acknowledged that the best way to affect supply is to reduce demand. His budget calls for spending $644 million on school and community programs and $180 million on a media campaign intended to reach the young."If we want to usher in a period of personal responsibility, if we want a new culture that changes from `If it feels good, do it' to one that says we're responsible for our decisions, it begins with moms and dads being responsible parents, by telling their children they love them, on a daily basis," he said. "And if you love somebody, you'll also tell them not to use drugs."Some advocates of a new drug policy expressed impatience with such remarks, given the pervasiveness of the problem. A recent University of Michigan study found that fully half of students reaching 12th grade had tried an illegal drug.Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which favors a strategy based more on treatment, noted that the president's own daughters and a niece had recent brushes with the law involving alcohol and prescription drugs."When it comes to drug policy, you should treat other people's children the way you'd want your own treated," Mr. Nadelmann he said."That's a policy that's missing" from the administration's approach, he added.Complete Title: Bush's $19 Billion Antidrug Plan Focuses on Law Enforcement and TreatmentSource: New York Times (NY)Author: Christopher MarquisPublished: February 13, 2002Copyright: 2002 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.comWebsite: http://www.nytimes.com/Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/Related Articles & Web Site:Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.orgBush Anti-Drug Strategy Stresses Community http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11992.shtmlBush Pledges To Reduce Nationwide Drug Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11991.shtmlBush Says Plan Will Cut Illegal Drug Use by 10% http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11987.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #8 posted by john wayne on February 13, 2002 at 13:25:48 PT illegal drugs safer than legal see the gov's own statistics at: http://www.ahcpr.gov/qual/aderia/aderia.htmOver 770,000 people are injured or die each year in hospitals from adverse drug events (ADEs) (1-3), which may cost up to $5.6 million each year per hospital depending on hospital size. This estimate does not include ADEs causing admissions, malpractice and litigation costs, or the costs of injuries to patients. National hospital expenses to treat patients who suffer ADEs during hospitalization are estimated at between $1.56 and $5.6 billion annually [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Jose Melendez on February 13, 2002 at 13:06:37 PT: Still waiting for CNN to notice this: from: http://www.senate.gov/~grassley/releases/1999/p9r02-04.htm For Immediate Release Thursday, February 4, 1999 Grassley Seeks Balanced Strategy to Fight Drugs Calls for Commitment to Demand and Supply Reduction, Expanded Law Enforcement Washington, DC — Sen. Chuck Grassley today joined a group of lawmakers calling for an increase in funding for counter-drug initiatives and charging that the budget offered earlier this week by President Bill Clinton shortchanges important efforts to strengthen interdiction of illegal drugs at U.S. borders. Grassley said the funding levels proposed by the Clinton administration "don't make any sense" because of the bi-partisan agreement reached last year on the need to beef-up federal support for the fight against drug smugglers and reflected in the budget passed by Congress and signed by Clinton in October. Grassley said Republican leaders in the Senate took prompt action on the priorities spelled out in last year's plan by developing a comprehensive counter-narcotics bill known as S.5, or The Drug Free Century Act of 1999. But WAIT! There's MORE! Editor's Note: A Drug Free America by 2002? A remarkably silly, totally unrealistic goal -- "a drug-free America by 2002" -- was announced by the Republicans in the US House of Representatives with great fanfare at a Capitol Hill press conference on April 30, 1998. Signing a "Declaration of Commitment," Republicans House members pledged, with a straight face, to achieve this impossible goal. As we approach 2002, according to the latest government surveys, 14 million Americans are current illicit drug users, of which 11 million are simply marijuana smokers. Clearly the Republicans in Congress have failed miserably to reach their announced goal. The point of raising this matter is to underscore the exaggerated rhetoric that pervades and distorts our drug policy debate in this country. Politicians promise unrealistic and unattainable goals, with the expectation they will never be held accountable by the voting public. This is pandering at its worst. Of course we are not a drug-free society; there are none on the planet. Our goal should be to discourage harmful and abusive drug use, while adopting policies that minimize the harm from marijuana use and marijuana prohibition. And the first step toward that goal must be ending the arrest of responsible marijuana smokers. There were 734,000 marijuana arrests last year in this country and 88% were for possession only. The next time you hear a politician promise unattainable drug policy goals while pandering for votes, remind him of the drug warriors' last failed promise: a drug-free America by 2002. Allen St. Pierre NORML Foundation Executive Director NOTE: This was posted December 27, 2001 at: http://www.norml.org/news/archives/01-12-27.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Zero_G on February 13, 2002 at 12:33:21 PT realistic goal? >>Mr. Bush set a goal of reducing drug use nationally by 25 percent over the next five years.Let's see if he can even cut drug use in *his family* by that amount...U.S. Population = 286,445,319 according to www.census.gov $19 Billion USD = $19,000,000,000comes to about $66.33 apiece according to my calculator...nah, couldn't, wouldn't think.... [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by llama guru on February 13, 2002 at 12:06:52 PT Reap what you sow It seems to me that Bush has just sealed his own fate, when in five years time when he tries for a second term in office drugs are still just as widely available as they are now he will be forced to admit he failed like so many beforet. He has sown the seeds of his own downfall. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on February 13, 2002 at 11:58:19 PT this line... "If we want to usher in a period of personal responsibility, if we want a new culture that changes from `If it feels good, do it' to one that says we're responsible for our decisions, it begins with moms and dads being responsible parents, by telling their children they love them, on a daily basis," he said. "And if you love somebody, you'll also tell them not to use drugs."Thanks GW, I'll take the advice into account from you, an alcoholic and cokehead who managed to get busted for drunk driving while being the VICE PRESIDENT'S SON (that must have taken some doing).My parents actually DID educate me properly, that's why I never became an alcohol and drug addict like yourself, and that's also why even in high school, my friends and I were smart enough to always use a designated driver. Thanks for the reminder to be grateful to my parents - luckily for me, they were compassionate and pragmatic, not Christian/Puritan zealots. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on February 13, 2002 at 11:17:29 PT Hypocrites >>Mr. Bush set a goal of reducing drug use nationally by 25 percent over the next five years. Wasn't this the same country that had plans to be drug-free by about now? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Zero_G on February 13, 2002 at 09:59:28 PT Its Your tax dollars! "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson, the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom, drafted in 1777.0g [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by goneposthole on February 13, 2002 at 08:22:59 PT compassionate coercion These yahoos (for they surely are not our leaders) need to be 'compassionately coerced' into stopping what they are doing.They're hooked on doing more harm than good. A pathetic lot, all of them. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment