The goals of drug law enforcement are to reduce drug-related gang violence, control street crimes committed by users, improve the health as well as the economic and social well-being of users, end street-level drug dealing, prevent children from experimenting with drugs, and protect the integrity of criminal justice institutions. Although the narcotics bureau is generally the center of the police response to drug trafficking and use, regular patrol and investigative units must also address drug trafficking, use, and related violence. All of these police efforts against the drug problem must be coordinated under a uniform policy and strategy. In tapping community resources for addressing the drug problem, police must prime the community's own capacities for self-defense. Alternative police strategies of drug law enforcement are to increase narcotics arrests, focus on high-level distributors, target gangs engaged in drug trafficking, maximize citywide street-level drug enforcement, organize neighborhood crackdowns, control drug-using dangerous offenders, and prevent the involvement of youth in drugs. 49 notes.