Pubdate: Mon, 05 Jun 2000
Source: American Press (LA)
Contact:  P.O. Box 2893, Lake Charles, LA 70602
Fax: (337) 494-4070
Website: http://www.americanpress.com/

NEW EFFORT NEEDED TO COMBAT ILLICIT DRUGS

Think America is winning the war against drugs? Think again — and this
time forget the rhetoric.

Simply look at the price list.

A scarcity of drugs produces high prices all the way through the
pipeline and on the street. More than enough drugs result in lower
prices.

In America, the prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen to record
lows and the drugs remain widely — and easily — available, federal
officials report.

Ironically, the low prices and easy availability are being reported at
the same time that the White House drug control policy director is
insisting that progress is being made against drug use in the United
States.

Appearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee, policy director
Barry McCaffrey had a hard time making things connect. For example, he
told lawmakers that drug use and drug-related crime among young people
declined during the past year.

Then he said that heroin has become more popular among young people
and says methamphetamines have a "serious potential nationally to
become the next 'crack' cocaine epidemic."

The cold numbers in the latest annual report by McCaffrey's office
shows how things are.

An "unprecedented" combination of retail purity and low prices in the
United States indicates that heroin is readily accessible. Small buys
of heroin averaged $1,798.80 per pure gram last year, a record low. In
bulk, it averaged $317.97 a gram (a gram is about the weight of a
paper clip, or about 0.036 ounces). The average price per pure gram of
cocaine, for buyers of one gram or less, was $169.25 in 1998, the
second lowest price on record back to 1981. Only in 1996 was it
cheaper, at $159.05 an ounce. For buyers of 10 to 100 grams, the price
per pure gram fell to an average of $44.51. Overall, the report
estimated that there were 454 metric tons of cocaine shipped to the
United States in 1998, up from 396 metric tons a year earlier. A
metric ton is 2,205 pounds. Marijuana remained the most readily
available illegal drug. Prices ranged from $400 to $1,000 per pound in
the Southwest to between $700 and $2,000 per pound in the Midwest and
Northeast.

Finally, McCaffrey issued a grim warning about a fairly new illicit
drug. Methamphetamine is "one of the most dangerous substances America
has ever confronted," he said.

The report estimated that 4.7 million people in the U.S. have tried
this drug and its use is spreading. The average price per pure gram
was estimated at about $140, down from more than $225 in 1992.

Shorn of rhetoric, this report becomes almost a cry for
help.

Illicit drug use has become the single most destructive force in this
country's history.

The way we have tried to deal with this problem hasn't worked. It
isn't working now.

There will have to be a new way, a new effort.
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