I. Drug-Control Strategy: An Overview
Overview of the 1999 National Drug Control Strategy
The National Drug Control Strategy takes a long-term, holistic view of the nation's drug problem and recognizes the significant effect drug abuse has on the nation's public health and safety. The Strategy maintains that no single solution or entity can suffice to deal with the multifaceted challenge that drug abuse represents; that several solutions must be applied simultaneously; and that by focusing on outcomes -- measured in declining drug use, reduced supply, and a lessening of attendant social consequences -- we can achieve our goals.
The two major areas that the Strategy's five goals are designed to limit are the demand for drugs and the supply of drugs. It is only through a balanced array of demand reduction and supply reduction programs that we will be able to achieve a 50 percent reduction in drug use and availability and at least a 25 percent reduction in their consequences.
While both demand and supply reduction efforts must be advanced simultaneously, demand must be the priority. People's desire for drugs is what sets the drug abuse cycle in motion. Drugs are supplied by traffickers only because a profit can be made. Thus demand fuels supply. In a perfect world, if we could bring demand to zero, the economic incentive to traffic drugs would evaporate and supply would disappear. This Strategy recognizes, however, that in the real world some demand for illegal drugs will always be present in any given population. Drug traffickers, seeking profit, will attempt to supply that demand. They must be countered.
In a solid, well-defined strategy, demand and supply reduction efforts complement and support one another. We know that cheap and readily available drugs can undercut the effectiveness of otherwise successful demand reduction programs. We know that restricted availability and high prices can help to hold down the number of first-time users, prevent aggressive marketing of illegal drugs to the most at-risk populations by criminal drug organizations, and reduce the human, social, and economic costs of drug abuse. Only through a comprehensive, coordinated approach of both demand and supply programs can we achieve success.
If demand reduction is the primary effort, prevention is the key. Clearly, preventing drug use in the first place is preferable to waiting to address the problem later with law enforcement and treatment. The Strategy focuses on our young, seeking to educate them about the dangers of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco during their formative years. If we can bring the almost seventy million American children to adulthood free of substance abuse, the vast majority will avoid drug dependency for the rest of their lives. Accordingly, our primary goal is to educate and enable our youth to reject substance abuse.
During the decade of the 90s, with the exception of the past two years, the rate of substance abuse by children has risen dramatically. This increase is in contrast to the overall declining rates of drug abuse which have come down significantly from where they were in the 1970s and 1980s. Today's problem is rooted in youth perceptions, which began in 1990 and 1991 to reflect less concern for the risk of drug use and abelief that substance abuse was not all that harmful for them. Indeed, today many young people believe that most of their peers are using tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, either singularly or in combination. But this belief does not bear out in fact. Most youth do not use drugs. However, it is true that among youth, there is a strong correlation between smoking, drinking, and taking drugs, and that the more frequently each behavior is practiced, the more likely the others are to occur. The National Drug Control Strategy sets as its priority the prevention of our youth from using any of these substances.
Nevertheless, focusing on youth is not enough. We must develop appropriate prevention, early identification and intervention programs for vulnerable young adults as they leave their homes and families to go to college, enter the military, or come into the workplace as full-time employees. We need to treat a large, mostly adult population of more than four million chronic users who constitute a major portion of domestic demand. Without help, these adults will suffer from poor health, unstable family relations, and other negative consequences of substance abuse. In addition, since parental alcohol and other drug abuse is a significant predictor of youth drug use, and is often the cause of serious child abuse and neglect, treatment for parents is key to breaking the inter-generational cycle of addiction. Accordingly, the Strategy will focus on treating those in need through a variety of means that heighten the chances of successful recovery. Although this is often a long and difficult process, research clearly demonstrates that treatment can and does work. The Strategy will take advantage of all opportunities -- in the workplace, the criminal justice system, the community, and on athletic fields -- to encourage drug abusers to become drug free. Indeed, there must be a synergy among the anti-drug programs offered by the nation's health care, educational, criminal justice, welfare, and job-training systems.
We must also address substance abuse by offenders. A third of state prisoners and one in five federal prisoners said they had committed their current offense while under the influence of drugs.2 Drug offenders account for 25 percent of the growth in the state prison population and 72 percent of the growth in the federal prison population since 1990.3 Many nonviolent, drug-related offenders will respond to a zero tolerance drug supervision program that includes treatment for substance abuse as required in lieu of incarceration. Experience shows that drug courts, testing and sanctions programs, and treatment within the criminal justice system reduce drug consumption and recidivism. Over time, expansion of alternatives to incarceration promises to decrease the overall addicted population and reduce both crime and the number of incarcerated Americans. However, the ultimate success of any of these programs will be measured by whether or not those with various combinations of substance-abuse problems, welfare dependency, and/or criminal backgrounds succeed in entering the workforce and becoming productive, self-sufficient, tax-paying members of society. Education and job-training programs must include a continuum of prevention, early identification, intervention and supportive services which effectively address the needs of the addicted, and abet recovery in training programs and in the workplace.
Along with prevention and treatment, law enforcement is essential to reducing drug use in the United States. The supply of drugs to our citizens is a criminal enterprise harmful to them and injurious to our society. Illegal drug trafficking inflicts violence and corruption on our communities. It violates the rule of law and cannot be tolerated. Law enforcement is the first line of defense against such unacceptable activity. Moreover, the criminal activity that comes with drug trafficking has both a domestic and international component. Domestic traffickers are often linked with international organizations. Our law enforcement efforts must include investigations and prosecutions to address both components of this criminal enterprise. Both domestic investigation and prosecution of drug trafficking organizations are important components of the National Drug Control Strategy.
The Strategy also stresses the need to protect borders from drug incursion and to cut drug supply more effectively in domestic communities. We have developed initiatives to share information and intelligence,4 make use of technology, and coordinate efforts to stop the flow of drugs. Since the Southwest border is a major gateway for the entry of illegal drugs into the United States, the Strategy focuses on this area to synchronize technology, intelligence, and operations, and work cooperatively with Mexico to decrease drug trafficking. The Strategy anticipates that as we gain success at the U.S.-Mexican border, drug dealers will redouble their efforts there and elsewhere. Therefore, resources have been allocated simultaneously to close other avenues into the United States including the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, maritime approaches to the United States, the Canadian border, and all air and sea ports of entry.
The Strategy also seeks to curtail illegal drug trafficking in the transit zone between the source countries and the United States. Multinational efforts in the Caribbean, Central American, European, Far Eastern, and trans-oceanic regions will be coordinated to exert maximum pressure on drug traffickers as they seek to bring drugs in and get money out. The Strategy supports a number of international efforts aimed at curbing trafficking within and across international borders. Such initiatives are being coordinated with the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), and the Organization of American States (OAS).
The most efficient supply-reduction operations can be mounted at the source: the Andean Ridge for cocaine as well as some of the heroin supply; Mexico for a significant share of methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana; and Southeast Asia and South Central Asia for much of the heroin. The Strategy describes a number of efforts to eliminate cultivation, processing, and manufacturing of illegal drugs at the source. Where our access to source regions is limited because of political or security reasons, the Strategy supports international efforts to curtail drug production and trafficking.
Overall, the National Drug Control Strategy is based on the best available research and well-designed technological, information, and intelligence systems. The Strategy is linked to a budget through on-going feedback from ONDCP's performance measures of effectiveness system in order to apply increasingly more effective approaches to the nation's drug problem. In that conditions are fluid, the Strategy will change as new drug trends develop. We will measure -- target by target -- how successful we are in achieving the goals and objectives. Yet we recognize that the federal government cannot meet these goals by itself. Only a truly national effort that is buttressed by international cooperation can achieve them. Constant reassessment will allow the Strategy to adapt continually in the face of new realities. The Strategy is informed by -- and therefore seeks -- input and feedback from all governmental and non-governmental agencies, organizations, and individuals committed to the lessening of drug abuse.
In the end, we have only one overriding objective. We seek to keep Americans safe from the threats posed by illegal drugs. We want to see a healthier, more secure, less violent, and more stable nation unfettered by illegal drugs and those who traffic in them.
