Mr. ROGERS. Then if there is anything you think the committee should have, you can submit it for the record. I realize not too much. notice was given but because of the urgency and the priority which the President has given this, we felt we should move into hearings rapidly.

THE CURRENT PROBLEM

Mr. INGERSOLL. In the United States we estimate there were probably as many as 315,000 narcotic addicts at the end of 1969. About 95 percent were addicted to heroin. Our statisticians are not attempting to arrive at an accurate estimate of numbers at the end of 1971. Of the 68,000-plus we have detailed identifying information on, almost three out of five are under the age of 30, and 8 percent are under the age of 21. New addicts under the age of 18, in the past 2 years, 1969-70, increased at a rate three and one-half times that which we experienced in the preceding 3 years, 1965–68. In short, the epidemic of heroin addiction is spreading very rapidly among America's teenagers. The serious spread of heroin consumption to new segments of population and locale is well known.

As the number and composition of drug abusers grow and become more diversified, there is also an increase in the number of traffickers and varying styles. There is an almost endless supply of couriers available to smuggle small quantities of narcotics and other dangerous drugs into the United States at the behest of well-financed criminals who operate behind an almost impenetrable screen of defense against detection.

Renegade pilots fly drugs in small aircraft throughout South America, the Middle East, and the Far East, as well as across deserted areas on our borders. Ex-servicemen are getting into drug trafficking, particularly in Southeast Asia; we know of at least two separate groups of such former GI's now.

And, although our attack upon organized criminal enterprises has increased many fold in recent years, these traffickers are continuing their activities.

SOURCES OF HEROIN

The total estimated legal production of opium was 1,800 tons for 1970. We estimate another 1,200-1,400 tons were grown illegally and entered the illicit market.

The largest current source of supply for the United States is still the Middle East, especially Turkey, where opium can be legally produced. But, the other major area of opium production and the one which in the next decade will be our biggest concern is Southeast Asia. Currently, much of the opium produced there is consumed by addicts in Indochina. The illicit production in Southeast Asia is estimated between 750 and 1,000 tons of opium. It may, in fact, be much more.

DOMESTIC CONTROLS

In the face of the increasing epidemic of drug abuse in the United States, what has been done or can be done to stop it?

The most important step to date was the passage of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, which became fully effective on May 1, 1971.

In conjunction with the new Federal legislation President Nixon directed the Department of Justice to draft a model State drug control law which would complement the new Federal law and increase the ability of the States to fight drug abuse within their jurisdictions. To date, 19 States have enacted the Uniform Controlled Substances Act and the legislatures of at least 12 other States currently have the law ready for passage this year.

The two acts provide an interlocking trellis of law that can be enforced in harmony at all levels of domestic government. We have arranged for superior enforcement through close collaboration among and between Federal, State, and local agencies.

INTERNATIONAL DRUG CONTROL EFFORTS

On July 14, 1969, President Nixon instructed the Attorney General and the Secretary of State to explore new ways to assist foreign governments in fighting the production and trafficking of drugs within their borders. I would like to mention several of the achievements in the last 2 years as a result of the President's directive:

The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and the Agency for International Development have provided assistance to Turkey to enable that country to reduce the areas where opium poppies are grown and to improve the controls against diversion of lawfully grown opium into illicit channels.

On February 26, 1971, Attorney General Mitchell and French Interior Minister Marcellin signed an agreement establishing close cooperation and coordination between the French and American drug control agencies. One result of this cooperation is an increase in the French narcotics agents from 24 to almost 100.

Mexico and the United States entered an agreement on March 5, 1970, which was signed by the Attorney General of each country. Under this agreement, called Operation Cooperation, equipment and assistance was given to Mexico for use in detecting and eradicating the production of narcotic drugs. Mexico has become our closest international collaborator in reducing illicit narcotic production within its own borders and on the international front. While much remains to be done, no other country has committed 10,000 troops at a time to detect and destroy opium and marihuana crops. In less than 2 years Mexico has destroyed 25,086,643 square meters where opium poppies were being grown, in addition to 10,651,135 square meters where marihuana was being cultivated.

This is all the more significant to one who is familiar with the ruggedness of the terrain and remoteness of the area where these activities are carried out.

The United States has proposed amendments to improve the operation of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. These amendments are intended to reduce the production of opium to what is absolutely required for world medical and scientific needs and provide stronger means for the International Narcotic Control Board to detect violations of the treaty and then to correct them by means of publicity, inspection, or embargo.

The United States initiated the creation of the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control to develop international programs regarding

drug abuse. This fund came into being on April 1, 1971, with a pledge by the United States of $2 million for the fund, of which $1 million has already been made available to the Secretary General.

To enable the Bureau to carry out its overseas activities, we have increased the number of agents operating in foreign countries from 20 to 60 and plan to add at least 62 more during the next fiscal year. The President has backed up his pronouncements that control of international drug trafficking is a major part of his foreign policy by statements to the United Nations General Assembly, by inclusion of the subject in his State of the World message, by two messages to the Congress, and very recently by recall of Ambassadors to the most sensitive areas.

THE NEXT PHASE

Despite all of the efforts made so far, as President Nixon said in his message to Congress just 12 days ago:

We must now candidly recognize that the deliberate procedures embodied in present efforts to control drug abuse are not sufficient in themselves. The problem has assumed the dimensions of a national emergency.

To help meet the emergency the President has submitted to the Congress a comprehensive program that will provide the Government new authority to deal with the problem in all of its phases-the supply, the distribution, and especially important, the market. He has further asked for an amendment to the 1972 budget to provide an additional $155 million making a total of $371 million to control drug abuse in the United States.

CONCLUSION

America cannot afford to underestimate the urgency of the current drug crisis, nor can it afford to delay or compromise its response to this crisis. There is no magic wand, no simple answer. We will not find our way by waiting for the single panacea. We have most of the tools now; I have mentioned a few more possibilities. What we need, however, is not so much more devices as more will.

We need less debate and controversy over the means, and more determination to achieve the results. Nobody yet has the final answers, but we have to get on with the job using either the best data or the best judgment we have now. If we wait for the perfect answer we will only continue to witness more injuries, more deaths, and more devastating waste.

That concludes my presentation, Mr. Chairman. I will be glad to try responding to any questions you or other members of the committee may ask.

Mr. ROGERS. Thank you for your statement.

Mr. Kyros.

Mr. KYROS. Mr. Ingersoll, I want to welcome you to the committee. We have seen you here before, and I, along with other members of the committee who have worked with you and your organization, feel that you really have gone after this drug problem.

Let me ask you some questions which are before us now.

I noticed in the paper recently that after the publicity about the use of white heroin in Southeast Asia, particularly among our troops in

South Vietnam, that you took a trip to Southeast Asia; is that correct? Mr. INGERSOLL. Yes, sir.

Mr. KYROS. What can you tell us about the use of white heroin in Southeast Asia?

Mr. INGERSOLL. White heroin in that part of the world is a fairly recent phenomenon. There had been a little of it produced but it was not sold until the beginning of 1970. As a matter of fact, the first white heroin, or No. 4 heroin, was detected initially in South Vietnam in December of 1969.

During the period from then until now the problem, among American troops particularly, grew at a very remarkable rate. Just how much nobody really knows. We have some indicators based on written survey questionnaires, physical examinations of a small population, the results of investigative activity on the part of the criminal investigation division of the Army, and all of these clearly point to a rapidly expanding problem.

Some people have estimated that 10 to 15 percent of American troops are heroin addicts. That estimate, I think, is based mainly on questionnaire surveys. Urinalyses have indicated in some units that the figure is much lower. Maybe 1, 2, or 3 percent.

The results of Army criminal investigations have shown a striking trend upward. I think maybe these data best describe the trend at the beginning of 1970: The number of apprehensions for possession or distribution of heroin in South Vietnam was less than one per thousand. By the end of 1970 that rate had increased to about six per thousand, and during the first quarter of this year it had again. doubled and increased to a rate of about 12 per thousand.

In the past few weeks a very intensive effort has been undertaken by both the Government of South Vietnam and our own people in the area to stop the movement of heroin into South Vietnam. Opium is not produced in the country. To our knowledge, heroin is not manufactured in the country, it is manufactured elsewhere in the area. So the flow through has to be by smuggling.

It seemed that the greatest amount was coming through Tan Son Nhutt Airport that serves Saigon. The South Vietnamese Government responded to our urgent representations about the seriousness of the problem and have clamped down considerably, greatly I should say, on the airport particularly and elsewhere in the country as well. One indication of their will to perform effectively is that they have completely, or in large measure, have shaken up or changed personnel in their customs organization. They have changed the people that are responsible for this part of their national police operation. They have increased their efforts tremendously to control the problem. Ambassador Bunker told me he has never seen the Government of South Vietnam so responsive to a request by the United States on any issue.

Mr. KYROS. One of the significant problems that I see growing out of that is, if white heroin is in widespread use among our troops in South Vietnam, we will have a situation where returning veterans who are addicts or predisposed to use heroin, will be located throughout the United States, even in our rural areas.

I foresee that as an enormous problem for your organization. So my question is, what are we going to do about keeping such a thing from happening?

Mr. INGERSOLL. The first thing that has been done is a new program that I am sure you are familiar with in South Vietnam, itself, which has as its objective the identification and treatment of returning servicemen before they come back to the United States.

This involves identification through testing and those who are determined to be addicted to heroin are then delayed in the country for 7 days for initial detoxification. Then they will be returned to the United States aboard medical aircraft, airlift aircraft, and will be continued in a treatment program for 30 days.

One of the authorities that the President is requesting is the authority to detain such servicemen in the service beyond their date of discharge for at least 30 days.

That is how the problem of the consumer is being attacked.

The medical experts feel that the great bulk of the servicemen who have been exposed to heroin in Vietnam will be able to rehabilitate because they are, by and large, highly motivated to be cleaned up before they return to the United States.

I don't know how to respond to whether or not that is going to take care of the underlying desire to, perhaps, go back to the use of heroin once in the United States. That is a very serious potential problem.

Another part of this problem that is serious is that many of these young men have made contacts, have learned the trade of drug trafficking. We are seeing an increased volume of heroin moving in the direction of the United States because of this. So we have very serious problems on both sides.

Mr. KYROS. That was my next and final question.

I understood from your testimony and what I heard from you before, that most of the heroin would come from Europe, from Turkey, and Marseille. Does any white heroin reach the United States from Southeast Asia?

Mr. INGERSOLL. Yes.

Mr. ROGERS. Thank you very much.

Dr. Carter.

Mr. CARTER. I reserve my time at this time.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Preyer.

Mr. PREYER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Ingersoll, it is very encouraging to hear your statement and to see your attitude of "Let's get on with the job even though we don't know all the final answers."

I think you have made some very good points that some real progress has been made in this area.

You make the point that while you have most of the tools you need for law enforcement with relation to the drug problem right now, that is not finally solving the problem. And I don't think any of us thought that law enforcement alone would solve the problem.

For example, heroin is illegal in every way we can make it illegal, isn't it?

Mr. INGERSOLL. That is right.

Mr. PREYER. You can't use it for experiments or anything else?