ACCESSION
NUMBER:363213
FILE ID:LEF323
DATE:10/05/94
TITLE:NEW CRIME LAW STRENGTHENS ANTIDRUG EFFORTS, POLICY HEAD SAYS (10/05/94)
TEXT:*94100523.LEF
*LEF323 10/05/94
NEW CRIME LAW STRENGTHENS ANTIDRUG EFFORTS, POLICY HEAD SAYS
TR94100523 (Republicans assail Clinton's approach) +rd (640)
By Ralph Dannheisser
USIA Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- The recently passed crime bill gives the Clinton
administration valuable new tools in the fight on drugs, the director of
the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy has told a Senate
committee.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee Oct. 5, Director Lee Brown
lauded Congress' action in authorizing funds for "police, punishment and
prevention," even though he criticized the lawmakers for granting much less
than the administration requested for treatment programs for hardcore
users.
Committee Chairman Joseph Biden (D-Del.) shared Brown's upbeat assessment,
terming the crime law a "major step in the right direction" in combating
the "drug epidemic that has become such a pervasive part of life in
America."
But the drug policy chief's comments were greeted skeptically by members of
the committee's Republican minority, who accused the administration of
abandoning antidrug efforts used to great result by the former Reagan and
Bush administrations.
Brown, a former police commissioner in New York, Houston and Atlanta, told
the panel that he and the administration see the prevalence of drugs as an
integral part of a much broader problem in society.
"While not excusing any criminal behavior, the administration believes an
effective drug and crime strategy must be cognizant of the poverty,
hopelessness and lack of opportunity in many of our communities. Solving
the drug problem therefore involves a willingness to recognize the
importance of good schools, good jobs, accessible health care, decent
housing and safe communities," he said.
Addressing the administration's emphasis on treatment for hardcore drug
1sers -- many of them criminals -- Brown observed that its strategy called
for treatment of 140,000 addicts in the 1995 fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
But he noted that Congress chose not to provide the $355 million requested
for that program, and approved only $57 million in additional funds for
locally administered substance abuse prevention and treatment programs --
enough to treat only about 6,500 heavy users.
"While the administration welcomes any increase in the treatment budget
during a time of such fiscal restraint, it is extremely difficult to carry
out our strategy without obtaining a substantial amount of the funds
requested for drug treatment," Brown said.
Still, he said, the new law "includes the most serious commitment to
hard-core drug treatment ever enacted by the federal government." He
specifically cited a $1,000 million, six-year commitment to "drug court"
programs designed to support intensive supervision of drug dependent
defendants and divert non-violent offenders into drug treatment.
Brown emphasized that "addressing chronic hardcore drug use and providing
increased access to treatment" remain the administration's top priorities
in the field. But he conceded that programs to implement these goals must
be redesigned into ones that Congress will agree to fund in "an ever
tightening fiscal climate."
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the panel's senior Republican, expressed
misgivings as to whether "focusing on hard-core addicts in prison is the
best use of limited resources." And, he said, "treating convicts before
users in the general population may send the wrong signal about our
priorities, especially when these convicts are rewarded with early
release."
More broadly, Hatch complained that "we have not had strong leadership in
this fight from President Clinton." While casual drug use dropped by more
than half between 1977 and 1982, he said, "under President Clinton's
leadership, we are losing ground," with use of marijuana, LSD and other
drugs once again rising.
He charged that Clinton has adopted a policy that "surrenders much of our
previous international intelligence efforts to drug cartels, retreats on
tough law enforcement, cuts federal law enforcement personnel to an
unprecedented degree, and abandons personal accountability by proposing the
early release of drug offenders."
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