PARENTS FOUNDATION AGAINST DRUG ABUSE, Hackensack, N.J., June 29, 1971. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2125, Washington, D.C. Att: Mr. W. E. Williamson, Clerk. GENTLEMEN: We are, unfortunately, unable to make arrangements for a member to appear in our behalf on such short notice, but would like our statement, below, to appear on the record. It is our sincere wish and desire to eliminate the need and presence of drugs. Removal of the availability would be the foundation for the cure of drug abuse, therefore, our organization's prime dedication is the removal of drugs. We are helpless to do anything about the drug traffic in this country. Our government, you, are our only hope. The influx of drugs into the country is crippling and killing our children and will affect generations to come. Drug abuse is claiming more lives than the war. Where are all our representatives who will speak up against drug traffic. Isn't this just as important? It's happening here and now. We want the government to make a concentrated effort to stop the drug traffic. Your recognition of the drug problem in Vietnam and your efforts at rehabilitation is admirable but we know that without lengthy and proper rehabilitation and without ridding the streets of drugs, your efforts will all be in vain. Some of us are parents of addicts. Other members are simply concerned citizens. We all live in constant fear. We know the pain and misery and heartache first hand. Please hear our pleas. Today our children are addicts. Tomorrow may be yours. Very truly yours, PARENTS FOUNDATION AGAINST DRUG Abuse, President. CITY OF FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, JULY 1. 1971. Hon. ARTHUR LINK, U.S. Congressman, State of North Dakota, DEAR CONGRESSMAN LINK: Enclosed is a Resolution entitled "Resolution Endorsing the Federal Narcotics Treatment and Research Agency" which I offered and was unanimously adopted by the Fargo City Commission at its Regular Meeting held June 29, 1971. I sincerely hope this Resolution can be presented to the appropriate committees of the Congress resulting in legislation at the earliest possible opportunity. With kindest regards. Sincerely, Enclosure. HERSCHEL LASHKOWITZ, REGULAR MEETING OF BOARD OF CITY COMMISSIONERS, TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1971 The Commissioners present or absent were as shown following: President Lashkowitz presiding. RESOLUTION ADOPTED ENDORSING THE FEDERAL NARCOTICS TREATMENT AND RESEARCH AGENCY President Lashkowitz relinquished the Chair to offer the following Resolution and move its adoption: (Vice President Markey presiding) Whereas the explosion of the drug culture among all groups of American citizens poses a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of our Nation; and Whereas in the United States today drug addiction knows no neighborhood lines, no state, county or city boundaries, and no racial or ethnic distinctions; and Whereas the shattered minds and hopeless futures of thousands upon thousands of our children are grim testimony to governments' inadequate response; and Whereas in America today, the narcotics plague ravages our people, fills our streets with terror and our homes with desperation; and Whereas the Federal Government has a fragmented effort bereft of coordination and hence, local officials waste time and energy attempting to weave the fragmented Federal contributions into a focused local program; and Whereas the Plague of narcotics addiction will not yield to anything less than a total commitment to treatment and research, focused in a single agency at the national level and funded with real awareness of the devastating human and dollar cost of the narcotic problem: Now, therefore, be it Resolved. That the City of Fargo, concurring with the United States Conference of Mayors calls upon the Federal Government, both the Congress and the President, to provide for a single, professional, fully-funded Federal Narcotics Treatment and Research Agency with a goal of a billion dollar program in three years providing basic financing for each city to establish a local comprehensive drug treatment program to rid our nation of this evil; and be it further Resolved, That this Resolution be inscribed upon the permanent records of the proceedings of the Board and certified copies forwarded to the North Dakota Congressional Delegation, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the House and Senate, the President of the United States, the Department of Justice, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Second by Schuster. On the vote being taken on the question of the adoption of the Resolution Commissioners Lashkowitz, Schuster, Bromenschenkel, See and Markey all voted aye. No Commissioner being absent and none voting nay, the Vice President declared the Resolution to have been duly passed and adopted and returned the Chair. (President Lashkowitz presiding.) * * HERSCHEL LASHKOWITZ, CERTIFICATE OF CITY AUDITOR STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA I, F. R. Fahrlander, do hereby certify that I am the duly appointed, qualified and acting City Auditor of the City of Fargo, North Dakota ; and That the foregoing is a full, true and correct copy of a Resolution adopted by the Board of City Commissioners of the City of Fargo at a Regular Meeting of the Board held on Tuesday, June 29, 1971; and That such Resolution is now a part of the permanent records of the City of Fargo, North Dakota, as such records are filed in the office of the City Auditor. Mr. HARLEY O. STAGGERS, F. R. FAHRLANDER, City Auditor. City of Fargo, North Dakota. ALEXANDRIA COMMUNITY WELFARE COUNCIL, Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, DEAR MR. STAGGERS: My name is Zoe H. Carrigan and I am a citizen member of the Governor's Council on Narcotics and Drug Abuse Control of the Commonwealth of Virginia. My professional occupation is as Regional Director of the Health and Welfare Council of the National Capital Area in the Alexandria region. I am glad to have the opportunity to speak to you today about a problem which has occupied a considerable amount of my personal and professional time for the past three years. I helped to organize a citizens group in Alexandria which attempted to bring about a comprehensive and coordinated approach on a local level. The leaders of the group eventually became the citizen members of the Alexandria Drug Abuse Coordinating Control Commission. They have attempted to deal with the growing drug abuse problem on a local level with little leadership and no funds from the state and a modicum of funds from federal sources. The local drug abuse commission is made up of agency representatives from the health, mental health, police, the commonwealth attorney, schools, private agencies and five citizen members. They have made progress in initiating drug abuse education in the elementary schools and have provided some funds for additional officers on the vice squad and for treatment of drug abusers. They have some idea of approaches to the problem. What they need is money. The same situation pertains on the state level. The State Council is made up of representatives of the various agencies and departments of the state government-health, mental health, law enforcement, the attorney general, Board of Pharmacy, vocational rehabilitation, education, welfare, corrections, youth commission, and four citizen representatives. A state plan has been developed assigning responsibility for various program components to the various agencies. The estimated cost for two years is $11,025,000 for the treatment aspects alone. This does not include law enforcement or education. The major funds have come from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration to operate the Council and regional task forces. Some federal funds come from NIMH, from OEO for treatment programs, from Welfare, and some from the Office of Education. We certainly see the need for coordinated comprehensive programming to reduce the multiplicity of funding sources and antagonistic treatment philosophies. An aggressive law enforcement approach will fill the prisons and jails without adequate funds for treatment and rehabilitation. We have already learned the lesson from the past federal programs that incarceration with little treatment and no follow-up on return to the community results in a cure rate of around 2-5% for narcotic addiction. The newer therapeutic community approach comes closer to 30% and the out-patient methadone programs allows addicts to be productive citizens instead of criminals. We have not even begun to know what to do with chronic drug abusers of non-narcotic drugs. I would first like to present some general principles that should form the basis of a comprehensive coordinated approach to drug abuse control: 1. The problem of drug abuse is not a police matter, but a problem of our whole society. The amount of drug abuse cannot be documented by the activities of the police. 2. A program should make the best use of available agencies, programs, facilities through expansion of authority and funds rather than multiplication of agencies. 3. A Council is needed on the highest level of authority to assign program responsibility, coordinate program development and evaluate progress. 4. Integration of law enforcement, treatment and education activities and philosophy is needed to ensure effectiveness. 5. Emphasis on community-based programs. To describe these general principles: 1. STATUS OF DRUG ABUSE We are a drug-using society and this complicates the purely law enforcement approach. A survey of medical practitioners in Alexandria indicated that drug abuse from their viewpoint was of tranquilizers, sedatives and stimulants. These are obtained legally, but can be just as deadly and just as harmful as illegal drugs. To attack only the abuse of illegal drugs without seeing them as a part of the whole society's use of drugs, including alcohol, would seem to be a misplaced effort. Mankind has been very resourceful at developing substances with which to abuse himself. The only real preventive measure is for each individual to say "No, I do not want that substance in my body." When there are no buyers we won't have to worry about the sellers. 2. USE OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES The federal approach seems to be to develop a new agency, new facilities and pour large sums of money into new programs which have been inadequately tested. I think we should avoid building huge monuments to drug abuse either in terms of program empires or marble monuments of treatment facilities. Local hospitals, which are now at 70% capacity, can be used for initial detoxification, mental hospitals and therapeutic communities (in remodeled old buildings) can be used for residential treatment. In the Virginia plan, the major responsibility for administration of treatment programs is given to the Department of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals with local responsibility for planning through the Mental Health Services Boards. H.R. 9059, which uses available mental health centers and public hospitals, is based on this principle of the best use of available resources. Additional funds made available under the Community Mental Health Centers Act could be immediately put to work under present administration departments. H.R. 9264 would appear to establish a new agency with an entirely new bureaucratic set up and another level of red tape between funding sources and program operations. 3. DRUG ABUSE COUNCILS Both the localities and the state in Virginia have developed the idea of a council charged with overall program development, coordination and planning and with the assignment of areas of responsibility including the three major aspects of drug abuse control-education, law enforcement and treatment. Perhaps the federal government could learn from this model. A Presidential Commission or Council could be designed to provide the overall direction and coordination leaving the operative aspects to agencies already in the business of funding programs. The Health and Mental Health Services Administration under HEW has been set up to plan and develop programs in prevention, treatment and rehabilitation for many other health and mental health problems. The Department of Social Rehabilitation Services, Vocational Rehabilitation and Office of Education are already under the Secretary of HEW. Except for law enforcement, most of the coordination and planning could be accomplished within this one department. A Presidential Council with representatives of the law enforcement agencies, the state department, HEW, and congressional representatives could help to give direction without superimposing another layer of bureaucracy. 4. INTEGRATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT, TREATMENT AND EDUCATION Activation of just one aspect of drug abuse control can have disastrous impact on other aspects. Each aspect must be developed comprehensively. Arrests of drug pushers or suppliers in a small community sometimes flushes out people in need of treatment when there are no treatment facilities or personnel. In Roanoke a large number of codeine addicts were revealed to public authorities when action was taken against an illegal supplier. Public education which tells the addict or abuser that help is available without developing the treatment resources is only complicating the problem. Funds for drug abuse control need to be applied to all aspects at the same time in a coordinate manner. Drug abuse councils or authorities at all levels of government can help to provide this comprehensive and integrated approach. H.R. 9264 meets the basic need for integration but I question the mechanism. 5. EMPHASIS ON COMMUNITY PROGRAMS Treatment or incarceration of the addict relieves the community of the prob lem for a while, but we have learned that returning an addict to the community without appropriate follow-up just ensures that he will return to his habits. Thus, it is felt that the control of the drug dependent persons, and, hopefully, his rehabilitation, needs to be at the community level. Only for very mentally ill persons or persons who have committed capital crimes does the state need to be involved in long term confinement. Funds from the federal government should be distributed on a matching basis to states and localities so that responsibility is taken at all levels. Finally, I hope you will act with all dispatch. As more veterans return within the next year, the problem will continue to escalate. Two young persons have died in my neighborhood from abuse of drugs within the past few months. Agencies and schools are attempting to develop programs, but they are a drop in the bucket. What we need is federal funds through already established channels. What we don't need is another agency! Sincerely, Mrs. ZOE H. CARRIGAN. Regional Director, Alexandria Community Welfare Council, member, Governor's Council on Narcotics and Drug Abuse Control of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Hon. PAUL G. ROGERS, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES, Washington, D.C., August 6, 1971. Chairman, Subcommittee on Public Health and Environment, DEAR CONGRESSMAN ROGERS: On behalf of the National Association of Counties, I wish to advise the Subcommittee on Public Health and Environment of our position on the creation of the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention. We support the creation of the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention with the following amendments: 1) that the legislation establish a National Commission on Drug Abuse to examine the root causes of crimes associated with drug addiction; and 2) that the legislation be coordinated with all existing federal mental health programs which might prove useful to drug addicts. These amendments were recommended by the National Association of Counties' Crime and Public Safety Steering Committee, a policy-making body, at our Annual Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 18-21, 1971. We would deeply appreciate having our support and amendments reflected in the Subcommittee record. Sincerely, LORETTA ANN TAYLOR, (Whereupon, at 1:25 p.m., the subcommittee adjourned.) |