>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <018e01bf2fb6$fa3369d0$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: McCaffrey to Senate: The US War on Drugs is a failure >Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 14:15:51 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >On June 18, 1998, Drug Czar McCaffrey told the truth to the Senate Caucus on >International Narcotics Control. He did it to gain support for his "Ten-Year >Plan" to cut US drug use by 50 percent. The truth, however, is what stands >out. > >The United States spends more money fighting drugs and locks up a greater >percentage of its own citizens for drug crimes than any other country on >Earth--by a wide, wide margin. And yet, what is the result? Hear it from the >Czar's own lips: > >"The United Nations International Drug Control Programme "World Drug Report" >summarizes the international drug problem. > >"UNDCP estimates the global prevalence rate of 'past year' illicit drug >consumption to be in the range of 3.3% to 4.1% of the total population. By >comparison, the Department of Health and Human Services most recent National >Household Survey of Drug Abuse estimates that 23.2M Americans (or 8.6% of >the U.S. population) are 'past year' users. Based on these two numbers, >Americans constitute about 11% of the worlds' past year' users. The goal of >the 1998 National Drug Control Strategy is to reduce the rate of current (or >past-month) use from today's 6.1 percent to 3 percent by 2007. This would >bring U.S. consumption rates below the UNDCP estimated global use rate." > >Yep. More than twice s many drug users in the country with the toughest laws >and the most strident enforcement. > >But how about other indicators, say, the street price of drugs. The law of >supply and demand dictates that more effective the drug-prohibition forces >are, the more expensive the street price of drugs will be. So how are we >doing compared with, oh, Russia, General Czar? > >"[In] Russia...cocaine sells for up to $300 per gram, three times the >average cost in the U.S." > >How is Britain's new US-inspired zero-tolerance policy, complete with "Drug >Tsar" going? > >"Record levels of drug seizures reveal the increasing threat of a widening >range of trafficking routes to the UK." > >Imagine that! Can you say "Entrepreneurs are more clever than bureaucrats," >children? > >Enjoy, > >Peter > > > > > > > > > > > > >Statement by Barry R. McCaffrey, >Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy >Before the Senate Caucus >on International Narcotics Control >June 18, 1998 > > > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: