Source: United States Information Agency
Author: State Department
Pubdate: 4 Jun 1998
Website: http://www.usia.gov/
Note: Following is a State Department fact sheet on U.S. efforts to combat
the domestic and international drug problem.
FACT SHEET: CONTENDING WITH ILLEGAL DRUGS AT HOME AND ABROAD
The president's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) presents to
the administration each year a national drug control strategy. This year's
(1998) strategy embraces five broad goals:
- -- Educate and enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs as well as
alcohol and tobacco;
- -- Increase the safety of America's citizens by substantially reducing
drug-related crime and violence;
- -- Reduce health and social costs to the public of illegal drug use;
- -- Shield America's air, land, and sea frontiers from the drug threat; and
- -- Break foreign and domestic drug sources of supply. The vast majority of
the budget for counter-narcotics programs is applied to the first three goals.
The overall budget for counter-drug activities, which includes large
research and development requests tied primarily to the Counter-drug
Technology Assessment Center (CTAC), amounted to $26,731 million in 1996,
$35,838 million in 1997, and a requested $36,016 million in 1998. For 1996,
$16,000 million went to research, while that figure was $18,000 million for
both 1997 and 1998. The remaining budget amounts represent money to be
spent on operations, or better stated, activities that directly impact on
the daily lives of millions of U.S. citizens.
The overall budget request for counter-narcotics operations for fiscal year
1998 (FY98) is $15,977 million. This amount includes money specifically
authorized by Congress for counter-narcotics programs. The $15,977 million
figure represents a 5.4 percent increase over the FY97 total of $15,159
million and is nearly 16 percent greater than the $13,454 million spent in
FY96.
The annual budgets in millions of dollars is broken down into the following
broad categories:
1996 1997 1998
Criminal justice system
6267 6961 7249
Drug treatment
2554 2809 3004
Drug prevention
1301 1648 1917
International programs
290 296 289
Interdiction
1321 1639 1610
Research
609 632 674
Intelligence
115 146 159
(Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars)
U.S. criminal justice programs include the federal judiciary, Bureau of
Prisons, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), Immigration and Naturalization (INS), INTERPOL, local
policing initiatives, among others. Drug treatment includes federal funding
and counterpart spending on drug treatment programs across the nation.
Drug prevention is specifically aimed at demand reduction and education,
especially for at-risk teen populations. Interdiction is targeted at
blocking the free movement of illicit narcotics into the U.S. and
narcotrafficking organizations that prey on U.S. citizens. The
international spending is program money spent specifically supporting
counter-narcotics efforts in supply source countries.
The international component of counter-drug operational spending has never
exceeded 6 percent of the total spending (1991 and 1992) and it currently
represents only 2 percent of the overall budget request for FY98. When the
1997 and 1998 budgets are broken down into functional areas by dollar
amounts and percentages, it looks like the following:
1997 % 1998 %
Demand reduction
4692 35 4440 33
Domestic law enforcement
6983 53 7402 55
International
296 2 289 2
Interdiction
1280 10 1321 10
(Annual figures are in millions of U.S. dollars)
The U.S. government expends the bulk of its anti-narcotics resources
fighting the drug war within its own borders. More than five of every ten
dollars is spent on domestic law enforcement programs, while nearly nine of
every ten dollars is spent on demand reduction or law enforcement.
Counter-drug program accomplishments have been considerable. The number of
people 12 years and older who regularly use drugs in the United States has
dropped from 14 percent in 1976 to just 6 percent in 1996. The number of
cocaine users dropped 70 percent in a decade, from 5.7 million in 1985 to
1.7 million in 1996.
Teen drug use has dropped in the latest survey for the first time in
several years, from 10.9 percent in 1995 to 9.0 percent in 1996. There is
also a declining trend in the use of crack cocaine, with the majority of
large cities in the U.S. showing significant declines in use, and only a
handful with increasing use of this dangerous drug. Likewise, most cities,
including the eight with highest reported rates of use, report that
methamphetamine abuse is declining. Drug-related crimes have also declined
in the last few years across America.
The number of drug-related arrests in the United States has risen
dramatically as the federal government has increased its commitment to
making America's streets safer. In 1992 about 1 million individuals were
arrested in drug-related crimes; that figure rose to 1.5 million in 1996.
Beginning in 1995, the federal drug law enforcement efforts began to target
kingpin and mid-level dealers, dismantling several important East Coast
trafficking networks. In 1995, 94.3 percent of all federal drug convictions
were for trafficking (as opposed to sales) of illicit narcotics. The
primary means for extending this work is the creation of more High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) programs.
The five HIDTAs in FY97 expanded to 17 in FY98. The HIDTA program provides
supplemental funding to federal agencies and provides money to make these
organizations joint ventures with local and state law enforcement joining
their federal counterparts.
The U.S. government has also targeted foreign trafficking organizations
with significant influence in the U.S. illicit narcotics market. Working
with the government of Mexico since 1995, targeting the Amado Carillo
Fuentes organization has led to more than 100 indictments in the U.S., the
seizure of 11.5 metric tons of cocaine, 6.9 metric tons of marijuana, and
more than $18.5 million in assets.
Prosecution of the Arellano Felix organization has led to 14 indictments.
One of the Arellano Felix brothers, Ramon, is on the FBI's top ten most
wanted list while the Department of State is offering up to $2 million for
information that will lead to his arrest and conviction. The U.S.
government has also dismantled important Colombian, Nigerian, and Jamaican
organizations that imported multi-ton shipments of a variety of drugs into
the United States, such as heroin, methamphetamines, and marijuana.
Most importantly, though, the message about drugs is being heard by
Americans. More Americans are concerned about drugs and the influence of
drug use on our society than ever before. Polling data consistently shows
that Americans rate drugs as one of the most serious problems facing our
youth. Likewise, Americans are getting personally involved in counter-drug
programs and projects to treat chronic drug users.
The greater concern about the problems associated with drugs has increased
media coverage about the problems.
The U.S. government is committed to the most comprehensive national drug
control strategy ever. The ten-year plan and five-year budget establish
priorities, match funding, and provide means to measure progress. The
goal-oriented strategy will move the United States further toward a
drug-free environment. The first measure of commitment is innovative
programs that:
- -- Target the youth with a media campaign that will use all of the power
available (newspapers, television, radio, internet) to reach America's
youth with the message that drugs are dangerous;
- -- Assist our communities with grants that will strengthen 14,000 anti-drug
community coalitions in cities and towns across the country;
- -- Create even more High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area programs (HIDTA)
that target cities particularly susceptible to the problem of drug use.
A second measure of commitment to counter-drug programs is the budget
itself. Growing by more than 25 percent since 1992, the current operational
budget of $16,000 million shows the commitment of the U.S. government to
counter-drug programs. Within the budget, the largest one-year increase
came in demand reduction efforts, where allocations jumped 22 percent. The
administration has made prevention of drug use and abuse its highest
commitment.
Finally, the new strategy details measures of effectiveness that will show
where the programs are not meeting pre-established goals. These measures
are quantifiable, attainable, and practical. These measures make the
government programs accountable to Congress and the American people.
The charge that the United States only fights its drug war abroad is false.
The figures cited above show that the vast majority of the U.S. commitment
is domestic and involves reducing demand, preventing sales, treating abuse,
and targeting the suppliers of drugs to U.S. citizens. The comparatively
small amount of money spent on international programs is intended to reduce
the supply of illicit narcotics to the United States. At the same time,
however, it helps those countries that receive U.S. assistance reduce the
influence of narcotics traffickers in their societies and economies. The
use of U.S. budgetary resources abroad will assist both the United States
and its allies in making drugs less available in all countries.
The international budget may also be the most productive in terms of "bang
for the buck." In 1996, working closely with its allies, the U.S.
international program was responsible for removing 300 metric tons of
cocaine from the trafficking system. This was accomplished despite the
ability of the narcotraffickers to outspend the United States, manipulate
corrupt officials, and otherwise sabotage anti-drug operations. For the
annual investment of about 2 percent of the federal counter-drug budget,
the programs eliminated $30,000 million worth of cocaine profits for the
traffickers. While much still needs to be done, especially in the area of
demand reduction, the U.S. government is committing the necessary resources
to attack our domestic drug problem.
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Checked-by: Richard Lake