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 The Facts
No one has suggested that we should "abandon" our efforts to reduce the
problems associated with drugs. What we have suggested is that we should make those
efforts more cost-effective. Prison is not cost effective.
Even if we accepted this claim as true, there is no evidence that the progress in
reducing drug use was at all due to the number of people put in prison. In fact, the
evidence clearly shows that the number of people put in prison could not have had enough
of an impact on the average white, middle-class drug user to make any difference at all in
drug use. If there was any actual reduction in drug use (and not just in
"reported" drug use) then it seems clear that it must have been due to other
factors.
DEA Statement
Legalization advocates claim that the fight against drugs has not been won, and is, in
fact, unwinnable. They frequently state that people still take drugs, drugs are widely
available, and that the changing that fact is a lost cause. Legalization is the
alternative.
The Facts
It should be clear to anyone that the war on drugs has not been won. There is no
credible evidence anywhere which would suggest that the war could be won by the current
methods, and the DEA has presented no such evidence here. The alternative is to look for a
better approach, whatever we might choose to call it.
DEA Statement
The conference participants disagreed with the notion that we should wave the white
flag of surrender because people still take drugs. The experts contended that there have
been many positive developments over the past fifteen years in reducing drug use, and
stated that the good news is often given short shrift. Our drug problem did not happen
overnight, and it will take a number of years to eliminate the problem. Legalization is
not an alternative to combating the drug problem.
The Facts
As happened with Vietnam, there comes a point when must recognize that we never should
have taken this course in the first place. It is not surrender to end the war on drugs, it
is a recognition of what we should have recognized years ago.
DEA Statement
The United States faces a number of problems today which, like our drug problem, are
not susceptible to easy solutions, including illegal immigration, declining education
quality and public health problems. Should we just post signs on our borders that we've
given up and invite a tide of immigrants in? Should we declare that our education system
has been a failure and give children a permanent vacation from school? Should we throw up
our hands in frustration about AIDS and stop searching for a cure? Of course not.
Americans are a people committed to solving problems, not running from them. Why should
our commitment to stopping drugs be any different from our approach to other national
interests?
The Facts
There is no doubt that there are many difficult problems. Of all the problems
mentioned, the DEA does not propose to solve any of them by throwing people in prison.
The final question here asks for a commitment to "stopping drugs" which, the
DEA itself admits, is clearly impossible.
DEA Statement
Furthermore, ask proponents of legalization just what they are proposing be legalized.
Just marijuana? Marijuana and heroin? All drugs?
And for what age group? Will children be able to buy drugs?
Will prescriptions be necessary?
And what will they tolerate as the price of legalization? A permanent underclass of
drug users?
Will a 10% increase in the number of traffic fatalities be accepted? What about 50%?
Would they be relieved to know that their child care provider had been smoking
legally-purchased marijuana? How many borderbabies is too many?
The Facts
The question really is: for what drugs are we willing to throw people in prison?
Can children buy drugs now? Obviously, they can because only the outlaws control
distribution of drugs. The questions try to insinuate that people in favor of reform want
to distribute drugs to children. Nothing could be further from the truth. The question
also conveniently ignores the fact that the number one drug killer, tobacco, is still
freely available to children through vending machines.
There are any number of possible policies, besides the current one. The question of
whether prescriptions would be necessary should not stop us from recognizing that prison
is unnecessary.
We already have a permanent underclass of drug users.
There is no evidence that the number of traffic fatalities would change. About half of
all traffic fatalities are now caused by alcohol, but the DEA does not propose that
arresting all the people who drink beer or wine is a sensible solution.
The laws and social rules for things such as caring for children would not change
regardless of the legal status of any drug.
DEA Statement
Some facts which help to confirm the observations of the forum participants may be used
in debates:
· The 1993 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, released in July, 1994,
demonstrates unequivocally that drug use declined significantly between 1979 and 1993.
The Facts
The same figures show it is going back up again, particularly among children. Those
figures show large increases in the last year alone -- and the laws have not changed.
It must also be recognized that the data gathering methods of this survey are open to
question. The survey is conducted by calling people at random on the telephone and asking
if anyone in the household has committed a felony (used drugs) in the past few weeks or
months. Instead of an accurate measure of the amount of drug use, it may just be a measure
of the number of people who are stupid enough to answer such a question from a stranger on
the phone.
DEA Statement
· In 1993, an estimated 11.7 million Americans were current illicit drug users,
meaning they had used an illicit drug in the month prior to the interview. This represents
no change from 1992 when the estimate was 11.4 million. The number of illicit drug users
had been declining since its peak in 1979 at 24 million.
The Facts
The DEA needs to take elementary math again. The figures shown represent a rise of
300,000 drug users.
The figures show one thing above all else-- there is no way we can throw that many
people in prison, and our jails are full already. How many of these millions does the DEA
propose that we throw in prison?
The DEA's own figures also clearly show that all of the supposed decline in drug use
has been among casual drug users. Their own figures show that this policy has had no
effect on the number of hard core drug users, where the problem really lies.
DEA Statement
· The number of current cocaine users remained at 1.3 million users in 1993, the same
as 1992. This is down from a peak of 5.3 million in 1985.
The Facts
Does the DEA suggest that we throw all 1.3 million cocaine users in prison?
Since 1979, rates of current illicit drug use have dropped for 12 17 year olds, 1825
year olds, and 2634 year olds, but not for the age group 35 and older.
The latest figures show that drug use among these groups has risen dramatically again,
and yet the laws are just as harsh as they always were.
DEA Statement
· Teenage drug consumption, despite recent upturns, is down in the long term. There is
an obvious concern in the United States about the consumption of drugs by teenagers--the
adults of tomorrow. Recent upturns demonstrate to us the clear need to continue doing what
we've done for more than the past decade: combine law enforcement, education, and
international efforts to address all aspects of the drug situation. The Monitoring the
Future Study, conducted annually by University of Michigan research scientists for the US
Department of Health and Human Services, has been tracking the drug consumption of
American high school seniors since the 1970s. In the past few years, the study has been
broadened to embrace drug use by 10th grade and 8th grade students as well.
The Facts
This is obviously wrong. See the latest figures cited above.
DEA Statement
When the first Monitoring the Future Study was published, 27.1 % of the members of the
Class of 1975 (eighth and 10th graders were not surveyed then) reported having used
marijuana or hashish in the previous month. The figure for the Class of 1980 was
33.7%--which puts that 2.4% figure 13 years later into perspective.
The Facts
If the study is looking at the drug use of eighth to tenth graders then it would seem
obvious enough that the campaign to put people in prison would not have had much real
effect on this group. This is evidence that any drop in use was not due to tougher
criminal enforcement.
Source 1993 National Household Survey
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