Pubdate: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Copyright: 2014 Chicago Tribune Company Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZ Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82 Author: Timothy M. Phelps HEROIN DEATHS CHALLENGE HOLDER'S DRUG STANCE WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder has been crusading for more lenient treatment for nonviolent drug offenders, making it a top priority before he is expected to leave office this year. But recently, he has been forced to confront an epidemic of deaths from heroin and prescription drug abuse, one that his opponents have cited as a reason for not easing drug sentences. In prepared remarks for a speech Wednesday to the Police Executive Research Forum, Holder cited the "stunning rise in heroin and prescription opiate overdose deaths" and insisted the Justice Department is committed to "rigorous enforcement" of drug laws and "robust treatment" of addicts. In response to a question about the seeming lack of urgency nationally on the heroin problem, Holder conceded "that this kind of sneaked up on us," according to a recording of his speech. He said heroin was considered mostly a regional problem until recently, when statistics proved otherwise. "What I have tried to do is use this office to talk about the issue, to bring attention to it, to talk about it in terms of our budget," he said. An organization representing a third of the assistant U.S. attorneys has opposed legislation backed by Holder to slash mandatory minimum drug sentences. And members of the Drug Enforcement Administration, from rank-and-file agents to Administrator Michele Leonhart, have been critical of what they see as Holder's and President Barack Obama's lenient policies toward marijuana use. Holder cited statistics to back his assertion that the department has been effective, saying the DEA opened 4,500 investigations related to heroin since 2011 and that the amount of heroin seized along the southwest border increased dramatically from 2008 to 2013. Experts say a nationwide crackdown on abuse of prescription painkillers, such as Oxy-Contin, has led to a sharp increase in the use of heroin, which is flooding into the country from Mexico and Colombia, and is cheaper than pills. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D