Pubdate: Wed, 07 Nov 2001
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2001 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Contact:  http://www.csmonitor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/83
Author: David T. Cook, Staff writer, The Christian Science Monitor
Note: Printed as sidebar to newspaper's reprint of today's Washington Post 
article about terrorism efforts impeding War on Drugs
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

DEA CHIEF - WAR ON DRUGS HURTING

Selected Quotations From A Monitor Lunch With Dea Administrator Asa Hutchinson.

On what DEA contributes to the war on terrorism:

"What the DEA contributes that is underground, that is behind the scenes is 
our intelligence. ... With offices in 56 countries, we have 400 DEA agents 
overseas - about 10 percent of our force. If you are looking into what is 
happening in the bad world... in terms of human intelligence you are going 
to find it in that seedy hotel or bar..."

On changing drug laws:

"Here in the United States it is fair to debate our drug policies but we 
need to debate them within the context of what we have learned from history 
and it is moving in the wrong direction to decriminalize or take drug 
offenses out of the criminal context. Within the criminal context, let's 
debate them, but those should be the parameters."

On how to handle marijuana:

"Our legislators have to set the parameters for how we handle harmful 
products. And they have set parameters for alcohol and parameters for 
tobacco and they have set a different set of parameters for the more 
harmful drugs that are out there from marijuana to heroin... We are an 
enforcement agency. We take the laws and move on them.

"I think it is erroneous to argue that because we have regulated two 
harmful products in alcohol and tobacco, that we ought to adopt the same 
regime for other harmful products. I don't think that is necessarily 
required. These are lines we have drawn and they are acceptable lines. I 
don't think we should move the line to include more harmful products. If 
you like what Phillip Morris has done with tobacco, what would they do with 
marijuana cigarettes in the marketing strategy?"

On reducing drug use:

"I call it demand reduction which includes prevention, education but it 
also includes treatment... I want to put more resources into the demand 
reduction side, as well as tie it to our law enforcement efforts so we can 
have a better and more long-lasting impact in the community. I also want to 
leverage those resources against a community commitment. It is not just a 
federal problem and I want to be able to see greater community commitment 
whenever we recognize a serious drug problem. "So after we finish an 
enforcement effort, we will send our resources in there be on the ground 
helping to build the community coalitions, greater treatment, working with 
the school counselors, working with the drug courts, I am a strong advocate 
of (drug courts). Seeing if there can be a longer lasting impact, not just 
taking the criminal organization out."

On law enforcement priorities since Sept. 11:

"Clearly we have mentioned Customs; the Coast Guard as well has moved some 
of its Caribbean assets. (The Coast Guard has indicated) that between 65-70 
percent of their assets were moved into port security. That has an impact. 
I don't want Miami and the Caribbean to go back to the way it they were.... 
I have been really grateful for (support from European counterparts). They 
had assets in the Caribbean and will help coordinate with us to make up the 
difference. So I think we are holding our own. But long term we really 
can't give a window of opportunity to the traffickers. It is a battle of 
resources."

On the impact of changing assignments for FBI agents:

"I am not saying it has an impact in terms of the net result. Certainly 
they have - if you are looking at Florida, they have the terrorism 
investigation in Boca Raton, all the leads they had to follow in Boston and 
Detroit and so on, the agents that were working with us on some drug cases. 
They have had to pull off and do other duty. We have picked up the slack 
and we will continue to do so to make sure we don't go backwards on this 
effort."

On his assessment of the overall war on drugs:

"... We are holding our own. If you look at it historically from the mid 
80s, we reduced cocaine use 75 percent. Overall drug use has reduced by 
1/4th. But we plateaued out about 1992. We made the enormous progress 
between the mid 80s and 1992. Since 92, it has been fairly level. So we 
have to figure out how to get over that plateau. We have got to figure out 
how to get over that plateau and move those statistics on a downward trend 
again. In the last few years you see a few upticks, in heroin, for example, 
and we are very concerned about methamphetamines being on the upswing. But 
overall drug use has been fairly level.

"In the teens, you can point to some ages that have gone up, some have gone 
down a little bit. So we are holding our own but we have got to move beyond 
the plateau we have been on since 1992."

On why drug use has plateaued:

"It is lack of consistency. If you look the '92-93 timeframe, assets were 
moved out of the Caribbean, interdiction efforts were reduced, the drug 
czar's office was reduced, DEA agents were cut back, some of the national 
messages were inconsistent and mixed. All of that combined had an impact 
and we lost our momentum.... Consistency is the key to anti-drug 
efforts.... It is a long battle on terrorism; it is a long battle on drugs."

On how Osama bin Laden uses drug money:

"Bin Laden has many sources of revenue.... I wouldn't want to make the case 
that he is dependent on drug proceeds to fuel his terrorism. But whenever 
you look at the terrorist training camps and the drug trade/drug 
organizations carrying out their activities in the same geographic region 
in Afghanistan, you have a combustible combination there. You have got 
these drug organizations which make huge amounts of money and you have got 
the terrorists that need money. And when they are both operating illegally 
in the same region, there is going to be a symbiotic relationship between 
the two. And I think that's what you see and you shouldn't ignore that 
probability. The intelligence is a little bit more minimal in that regard 
in reference to bin Laden, than it is with the Taliban which is very clear."

On whether the Taliban would stay in power without drug money:

"They would be severely limited in what they were capable of doing. As to 
whether they would maintain their power, I don't know. But they would be 
much more limited, severely limited in their abilities because they draw a 
significant amount of revenue from it."
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MAP posted-by: Jackl