SPECIAL ACTION OFFICE FOR DRUG ABUSE PREVENTION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1971 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room 2133, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Paul G. Rogers (chairman) presiding. Mr. ROGERS. The subcommittee will come to order, please. We are continuing hearings on the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention bills. Our first witness this morning is the Honorable Melvin Price, our colleague from the State of Illinois. Welcome, Mr. Price, it is a pleasure to have you with us this morning. STATEMENT OF HON. MELVIN PRICE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN Mr. PRICE. Mr. Chairman, although drug abuse has existed within our Nation for more than a century, it is only recently that this disease has reached epidemic proportions. The magnitude and severity of drug abuse demand that special action be taken by the Federal Government to eliminate this debilitating condition from our society. H.R. 6732 proposes to establish an Office of Drug Abuse Control within the Executive Office of the President. This Ŏffice, which would posses its own budget and appropriations, is designed to provide a unified system of attack against drug abuse. Factors in our society such as the use of potentially addictive drugs in medical therapy, the inadequate methods of control of the production and distribution of dangerous drugs, and the ignorance among the public of the deleterious effects which certain drugs can have upon health, foster the spread of drug abuse. This bill requires the Director of this Office to institute a plan for domestic drug control to eradicate these contributory conditions and thereby halt the progression of this plague. In addition, this program would help reduce the present amount of drug abuse by stimulating expanded research into the development of a detoxification element to ease the physical effects of heroin withdrawal and developing a large-scale, national methadone maintenance program. Conditions exogenous to our society also compound America's drug abuse problem. By instituting an international drug control program 66-841 0-72-pt. 1—23 which would offer assistance to internation organizations or foreign countries in controlling the production and exportation of addicting drugs, we would be taking a decisive step toward the reduction of drug abuse within our own country. Perhaps the most important function to be allocated to the Office of Drug Abuse Control is the responsibility for the coordination of the programs for drug abuse control currently carried out by several departments and agencies of the Federal Government. The syncronization of programs of, for example, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Department of Justice which are designed to attack different aspects of this problem would substantially increase the likelihood of a complete victory over our drug problem. Drug abuse has become so rampant in American society that a massive utilization of our resources is required for its elimination. By establishing an Office of Drug Abuse Control within the Executive Office of the President and relegating to this Office responsibility for the coordination of currently existent drug regulation programs and the establishment of comprehensive domestic and international drug control programs, H.R. 6732 would mobilize our resources so that they could be utilized in solving this problem. I heartily urge passage of this bill. Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Mr. Price, for your fine statement. The committee appreciates your interest in this important legislation. Mr. PRICE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for affording me the opportunity to express my views. Mr. ROGERS. Our next witness is from the State of New York, the Honorable Frank J. Brasco. Welcome, sir. Please come forward and proceed as you see fit. STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK J. BRASCO, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK Mr. BRASCO. Mr. Chairman, I very much appreciate the opportunity to present my views to this subcommittee. The subject in question, control of drugs, is perhaps the most pressing problem now confronting American society. We have very little time left in which to mount effective counterblows, and it is with that same subject that I wish to deal today. Drugs have always been with us. Previously, they were confined to the ghettos of our land. Only in recent years have they climbed out of their old stamping grounds, reaching out to infest middle-class neighborhoods of America. It is only fair to say that this virulent infestation has caught the entire Nation utterly unprepared. The war in Vietnam has multiplied this plague ten fold, and perhaps more. Our Military Establishment has been the hapless victim of an infestation of drugs unrivaled in any history we are aware of. This situation in turn has been compounded by belated recognition of the social consequences by our military hierarchy, abroad and at home. The very wealthy of our Nation have not been spared either, as hard drugs have appeared fastest in the most affluent residential areas and high schools of the Nation. What is perhaps worst of all is the fact that in those same high schools of the Nation this plague is spreading fastest. A few short years ago, it was the college and university scene that featured a drug culture. Presently, high schools everywhere are blossoming out in drug subcul tures. It is also a fact that we have thus far been notably unsuccessful in halting the full flow of hard drugs across the border of this country from abroad. Ill-fated efforts to prevent marihuana from coming into the Nation from Mexico, such as Operation Intercept, simply drove many people to hard drugs. It is also true that the recent move with regard to the opium crop in Turkey may possibly result in this illicit trade seeking other channels. All in all, we are faced with a multifaceted, hydraheaded drug problem, worsening daily and destroying the very fabric of American society. In response to this, we have had a helter-skelter response from a thousand different areas. There is the methadone approach. There is a synanon and halfway house approach. There are Federal drug cure hospitals. There are now new Armed Forces detoxification centers and drug detection programs. Each State and every large city has a multiplicity of programs. In effect, we have almost as many approaches as there are addicts, and I have just been covering detection and recovery areas. The Federal Government is utilizing several different police forces to halt the flow of drugs, to detect drug smugglers and to halt sale of this poison. So far, such efforts have been notable for their failure, in spite of all the rhetoric. If results matched "law and order" speeches by our "protectors," we would be half way to ending this curse. Rather than dash off in a thousand different directions, we require a central coordinating operation, preferably within the executive branch. I have joined in sponsorship of a piece of legislation authorizing exactly that with my distinguished colleague from New York, Mr. Scheuer. It is in support of such a proposal that I offer my testimony here today. It would establish within the Executive Office of the President an Office of Drug Control, whose main aim would be coordination of a total war on drug abuse. With its own budget and appropriation, as well as its director reporting straight to the President, we would begin to bring some sense and order to the battle against drugs. Above all, there would be methodical coordination, which is one of the keys to this effort, in my own opinion. Expertise would be immediately available to this person. Direct access to the President would grant a new element to such an office that is presently notable by its absence. It is my view that we have very little time to waste. Daily, more addicts are entering the Nation, many of whom are former veterans of our Armed Forces who have picked up deadly habits abroad. Daily, more heroin is entering America from overseas, filtering through the tightest net. Daily, the poison of heroin reaches further into the bone and sinews of American society. It is vital that we act immediately. Therefore, I urge all those in positions of responsibility to adopt this legislation and put it to work. We must have centralized control over this effort. Thank you. Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Mr. Brasco, for sharing your views with us this morning. Mr. BRASCO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, it has been my pleasure. Mr. ROGERS. Our final congressional witness this morning is the Honorable James R. Mann from the State of South Carolina. Wel come, Mr. Mann. STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES R. MANN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA Mr. MANN. For the past 2 years, the Select Committee on Crime, on which I have the pleasure to serve, has held extensive hearings throughout the country dealing in whole or in part with various aspects of drug abuse. These hearings have revealed the magnitude of the drug abuse problem which is now confronting America. Having examined the nature and extent of heroin addiction in the United States, we have proposed a series of recommendations to deal with the addict population in this country which has been estimated at from 200,000 to over 300,000. However, the need for a special office to coordinate all the various Federal programs and to concentrate the resources of the Nation in a crusade against drug abuse has been clearly demonstrated. Testimony given by various witnesses during these hearings has indicated that as many as 14 Federal agencies are involved in administering more than 40 programs dealing with drug education, treatment, and rehabilitation. The effectiveness of these programs, operating in most cases indedpendently of each other, has been seriously diminished by duplication and lack of coordination. In his message to the Congress on June 17, 1971, the President recognized that the drug abuse problem has now "assumed the dimensions of a national emergency," and his initiative in proposing a new and comprehensive program to deal with this emergency is to be commended. His proposal to establish a central authority with overall responsibility for all major Federal drug abuse prevention, education, treatment, rehabilitation, training, and research programs in the various Federal agencies will definitely strengthen Federal leadership in finding solutions to drug abuse problems and increase coordination between all levels of government in drug control and rehabilitation efforts. An office charged with developing, funding, managing, and evaluating all major Federal drug abuse programs, exclusive of law enforcement activities and legal proceedings, will contribute toward maximum effectiveness and efficiency in the administration of such programs. The testimony of Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe before the subcommittee on August 2, 1971, indicated that the Special Action Office created by Executive order on an interim basis pending statutory authorization has already begun establishing working relationships with the appropriate agencies to insure a uniform coherent national policy on the programs for research, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. Though the SAO is still in the earliest stages of its development and has not yet formulated the precise mechanisms by which it will operate, it has definitely made progress toward the accomplishment of the goals it was created to achieve. I reiterate my concern over the menace drug abuse is posing to this Nation. All reports and surveys indicate that the problem has now reached epidemic proportions and it is mandatory that the Federal Government launch a new and more vigorous effort to eliminate this problem. The President's proposal represents a fresh approach at combating drug abuse, and although there are no panaceas, H.R. 9264 focuses the resources of the Nation on drug addiction and drug abuse with the immediate objective of promptly and significantly reducing the incidence of such conditions in the Nation within the shortest possible time. I am in agreement with the President when he stated in his message to the Congress that: we are not without the will to deal with this matter. We have the moral resources to do the job. Now we need the authority and the funds to match our moral resources. I am confident that we will prevail in this struggle as we have in many others. But time is critical. Every day we lose compounds the tragedy which drugs inflict on individual Americans. The final issue is not whether we will conquer drug abuse, but how soon. Part of this answer lies with the Congress now and the speed with which it moves to support the struggle against drug abuse. I urge this subcommittee to act expeditiously on this proposed legislation and report favorably thereon. Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Mann, the subcommittee appreciates your interest in this important legislation. Mr. MANN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ROGERS. We are pleased to have with us this morning Lt. Gen. Robert C. Taber, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense. General, we welcome you to the committee, and we will be glad to receive your statement. STATEMENT OF LT. GEN. ROBERT C. TABER, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR MANPOWER AND RESERVE AFFAIRS, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE; ACCOMPANIED BY REAR ADM. CHARLES F. RAUCH, JR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DRUG ABUSE ADVISORY COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY; BRIG. GEN. JOHN W. ROBERTS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, PERSONNEL PLANNING, DCS/PERSONNEL HEADQUARTERS, USAF; BRIG. GEN. ROBERT B. CARNEY, JR., DEPUTY ASSISTANT CHIEF OF STAFF G-1, HEADQUARTERS, USMC; JOHN G. KESTER, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY, MANPOWER AND RESERVE AFFAIRS; BRIG. GEN. GEORGE J. HAYES, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT; AND MAJ. CECIL W. WILLIAMS, USAF, LEGISLATIVE ATTORNEY, OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE LIAISON General TABER. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this subcommittee to discuss the problem of drug abuse in the Armed Forces. In confronting this critical national problem, our efforts are greatly strengthened by the leadership of the President, the interest of Congress as reflected in this subcommittee hearing, and the cooperation of other executive agencies. Without such very substantial help from others, we in the Department of Defense could not cope with this problem on its many fronts. |