[Copied onto the net by lamontg@milton.u.washington.edu (Lamont Granquist), so all typos are probably mine.] NATIONAL DRUG REFORM STRATEGY February 1992 The Drug Policy Foundation (C) 1992 by the Drug Policy Foundation Any part of this publication may be reproduced without express permission from the Drug Policy Foundation, so long as appropriate credit is given. The Drug Policy Foundation is an independent forum for drug policy alternatives. It is the leading organization dedicated to research, education and public information related to the international war on drugs. It is not a legalization organization, though some of its members support such an alternative to the current policy approach. The Foundation is a charitable corporation under the laws of the District of Columbia and section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. All contributions to the Foundation are tax-deductible. To maintain its independence, the Drug Policy Foundation neither seeks nor accepts government funding. It is supported by the contributions of private individuals and organizations. The Drug Policy Foundation 4801 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Suite 400 Washington, D.C. 20016-2087 U.S.A. (202) 895-1634 - Fax (202) 537-3007 President: Arnold S. Trebach Vice President: Kevin B. Zeese Public Information Officers: Kennington Wall, Dave Fratello CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary Introduction: What's Wrong with the War on Drugs? Recommendations: 1. Reverse Drug Policy Funding Priorities 2. Curtail AIDS: Make Clean Needles Available to Addicts 3. Increase Drug Treatment Availability 4. Stop Prosecutions of Pregnant Drug Users 5. Make Medical Marijuana Available to the Seriously Ill 6. Appoint a Commission to Seriously Examine Alternatives to Prohibition Conclusion: Creating a Safer, Healthier America Appendix: A History of Impartial Reports Demands Reconsideration of Current Drug Policy DRUG REFORM STRATEGY SUMMARY o Reverse Drug Policy Funding Priorities The Bush administration should eschew the course set by the previous drug czar and give _highest_priority_ to drug education and treatment. Reversing the current 70 percent-30 percent funding disparity favoring law enforcement over drug prevention is a moral imperative. o Curtail AIDS: Make Clean Needles Available to Intravenous Drug Addicts President Bush and National Drug Control Policy Director Martinez should heed the advice of the National Commission on AIDS, which urged implementation of clean needle exchanges and other programs targeting addicts. o Develop a Plan for Drug Treatment on Demand, Allow Medicaid to Pay for Treatment for the Poor, and Expand the Variety of Treatment Options Available The drug czar should make a comprehensive assessment of drug treatment availability nationwide, then propose a target date and plan of attack for achieving treatment on demand everywhere in the United States. Mr. Martinez should also work with Congress on legislation allowing Medicaid to cover drug treatment expenses for our nation's poor. o Stop Prosecutions of Pregnant Drug Users Director Martinez should use his national pulpit to urge states to cease the counterproductive practice of prosecuting pregnant drug users. Ending such prosecutions, while expanding drug treatment and prenatal care, will help reduce the problem of drug-exposed infants. o Make Medical Marijuana Available to the Seriously Ill The president should order the Food and Drug Administration and Drug Enforcement Administration to join in making marijuana available, by prescription, to the tens of thousands of seriously ill Americans who could benefit from its use. o Appoint a Commission to Seriously Examine Alternatives to Prohibition The national policy of drug prohibition has not reduced the supply of illegal drugs, but it has bred crime and violence on a massive scale. It is time to look honestly at the experiences of other nations with illegal drugs and at our own experiences with legal drugs to develop new, health-based policies for reducing substance abuse. WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE WAR ON DRUGS? President Bush launched his administration's war against drugs just over two years ago on September 5, 1989. The strategy announced by the president and his first drug czar, William Bennett, rubber-stamped the Reagan drug control approach. In addition it promised more money, better coordination and a full commitment from the commander-in-chief. President Bush has intensified the war, but recent National Institute on Drug Abuse statistics show that victory in the drug war is still far from a reality. Indeed, on many fronts the problems are getting worse. Meanwhile, the war on drugs is costing the states and federal government billions of dollars, overfilling our prisons, breeding crime and violence, and failing to treat those people who desperately want help. Drug War at an Impasse The drug war was the centerpiece of the administration's early domestic agenda. But as the months wore on, the drug czar became discouraged and abandoned his post, leaving the drug war adrift. Leadership at the Office of National Drug Control Policy has been slow to develop, and staff shakeups have hampered coordination and progress. The issue has fallen from the headlines even as many of the social problems related to illegal drugs have increased. Drug-related crime and violence have reached record level today. In 1990, 23,438 Americans were murdered--a record figure fueled in part by drug trade- related violence. While final figures for 1991 are not available yet, all indications are that the homicide record will be broken again. The worsening of the highest priority drug-related problems is the paradoxical result of increased enforcement. As Nobel Laureate economist Milton Friedman has pointed out, the homicide rate has gone up in response to increase competition among drug sellers, much as it also climbed during alcohol Prohibition. AIDS continues its deadly spread in our society, with close to one-third of all cases traceable to the use of infected needles by intravenous drug users. The worst aspect of this gruesome situation is that the spread of AIDS via dirty needles could have been prevented all along. Federal drug war policy makers have refused to consider the single measure that could undeniably and immediately reduce the number of people contracting the disease through infected needles: sterile needle exchange. By shutting down the spread of AIDS among addicts, we would also reduce the incidence of the disease among their sexual partners and children, thus helping curb the disease among the mainstream population. Our courts and prisons are being flooded with drug cases, pushing federal, state and local courts to the breaking point. Over 1.2 million Americans now live behind bars, giving the United States the highest incarceration rate in the free world. In some cities, it is now virtually impossible to try a civil case because all the judges' dockets are filled with drug cases, many of which involve only small transactions or simple possession. What is worse, every drug dealer arrested is simply replaced the next day by someone else who needs money desperately enough to risk arrest by the police or death by competing traffickers. Drug use-related problems continue to escalate. Drug-related deaths have not declined during the last decade. Emergency room mentions of illegal drugs have fluctuated, but the most recent government figures indicate drug emergencies are on the increase again. And according to both the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Senate Judiciary Committee, so-called "hard core" drug use is also rising. Poor and Minority communities Have Been Disproportionately Affected by Enforcement Emphasis Because the illegal drug business thrives where legitimate economic opportunities are limited, drug enforcement has inevitably become focused on poor and minority communities. The result is a striking disproportionality in arrest and incarceration figures, where minorities are represented at two to three times their percentage in the general population. According to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, blacks make up 12 to 15 percent of the nation's illegal drug users. Yet in 1989, 41 percent of those arrested on drug charges were black. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Sentencing Project, the United States has more young black men in jail than South Africa on a per capita basis. Blacks make up 46 percent of the U.S. prison population. The long-term impact of disproportionate drug enforcement on the livelihood of minority communities is still not well understood. But with statistics showing that nearly one in four young black males is either in prison, on parole or on probation, common sense says employment prospects for many minorities will be hampered well into the next generation. Having thousands of fathers in jail also hinders the development of strong family values. So long as the illicit drug business continues to operate in these communities and enforcement efforts target them with the same vigor, the prognosis is grim. Time for Change to Salvage the Future The president's war is failing to achieve its stated objectives, and is doing more harm than good. As our nation plans for the year 2000 and beyond, it is imperative that the mistaken approach to drugs that has dominated the last several decades be reconsidered seriously. It is time to turn the corner and focus on methods that work to reduce drug abuse and corollary social problems. It is time for drug czar Bob Martinez and President Bush to admit that our nation's drug policy needs a new focus, a new direction and a new conscience. To aid the development of a rational and humane alternative to the war against drugs, the Drug Policy Foundation hereby offers a reform agenda for 1992. Purpose of this Strategy As critics of the drug war, we have consistently been asked to produce a concrete, alternative plan to show our differences with administration policy. We have often made such proposals. This strategy represents a summary of those which could be immediately implemented. Our agenda has been formulated with an eye towards achievability. Each of the policy recommendations urged herein could be implemented by the Bush administration without significant changes in the drug laws. Each idea, however, could go far toward bringing a needed dose of compassion and pragmatism into the national anti-drug effort. Only slight statutory changes are recommended here. Some of the items would merely require voluntary reforms by the states. We at the Drug Policy Foundation have attempted to meet drug-war policy makers halfway by urging reforms that fit within the current legal framework. We hasten to add, however, that we feel the war on drugs is the result of fundamentally flawed assumptions about drugs and drug users. The drug war provides our nation little more than a course for disaster, because like all prohibition policies it ignores basic rules of economics. One of the cruelest ironies of our attempts to suppress drugs is that such efforts actually expand the illegal market, enriching villains and creating incentives for people to "push" drugs on others. Hence, the final recommendation that alternative policies be seriously examined. The Bush administration's strategy--stay the course--offers little hope of short- or long-term success. To date, the administration has avoided answering fundamental questions about long-term drug policy. We believe this great nation must now reform its current approach and consider finding new ways of thinking about drugs. We encourage all Americans to join us in helping a sensible and compassionate alternative to a permanent war, a war fought not to win but to prove the ideological zeal of those who fight it. MORE HOMICIDES, MORE PRISONERS Rates per 100,000 population 110 11 X X X Homicides (right scale) X 100 X X | 10 X | | | Prisoners (left scale) X X X | 90 X X X X X X X X X|X| 9 X X X X X X X X X X X |X|X|X 80 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X|X|X|X|X 8 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X|X|X|X|X 70 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X|X|X|X|X 7 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X|X|X|X|X|X 60 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X|X X|X X|X|X|X|X|X 6 X X X X X X|X X X X|X X X X X X X X X|X X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X 50 X X X X X|X|X|X X|X|X|X X X X X X | | | | X X X X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X 5 X X X X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X X X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X X X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X 40 X X X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X 4 X X X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X 30 X X X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sources: Historical Statistics of the United States; Statistical Abstract of the United States This graph originally appeared in _The_Wall_Street_Journal_, March 7, 1991. [I had to hack the data for 1910-1920, and the translation to ASCII suffers a little -- lamontg@milton.u.washington.edu] 1. REVERSE DRUG POLICY FUNDING PRIORITIES President Bush should eschew the course set by his first drug czar and give _highest_priority_ to drug education and treatment. Current drug control policy director Martinez should take the lead in this effort to refocus administration policy. Reversing the current 70 percent-30 percent funding disparity favoring law enforcement over drug prevention is a moral imperative. Priorities Are in the Numbers When all is said and done, the Bush administration's drug-fighting priorities show clearly through the budget it proposes each year. Since the first national strategy in 1989, the administration has consistently pushed for more than twice the money for drug law enforcement than it has asked for drug treatment, prevention and education _combined_. Yet administration spokesmen repeatedly claim that declines in reported drug use are the result of successful education efforts. If that is the case, why doesn't the administration put its money where its mouth is? In a time of unprecedented budgetary crisis, the administration is still advocating that more than $7 billion a year go to dubious efforts at interdiction, crop eradication and other enforcement activities. Inverted priorities lead the administration to quibble with Congress over smaller drug-budget items, such as a $100 million dollar drug treatment program that was not fully funded last year. The massive waste represented by much of the drug enforcement budget could be averted and education and treatment programs fully funded if the administration reversed national anti-drug priorities. It is time to go with what works and stop wasting taxpayers' dollars. Every Law Enforcement Dollar Guarantees Bigger Prison Budgets in the Future Heavy funding of law enforcement, as urged by the administration, is truly a losers game. It is like hiring people to chase the horse after it has left the barn, rather than closing the door to prevent the horse from escaping. Taxpayers will get a better return on their dollars if our nation's top drug control priorities are prevention, education and treatment. Refocusing the drug war is not just the right idea, it is becoming a fiscal urgency as well. If we do not act now to de-emphasize law enforcement, it will soon be impossible to reduce that budget. Every dollar we spend now on drug enforcement is essentially an investment in the future--_of_our_prisons_. In each of the last three years, more than a million Americans were arrested for drug violations. Thousands will be serving mandatory minimum sentences of five years, ten years and more. Our prisons and jails are already overflowing, making it necessary to build more and more just to keep up. In 1991 the federal Bureau of Prisons estimated that construction costs could soon approach $100 million a week. Factoring in operating costs for completed prisons, the BOP estimates that total prison-related fiscal obligations could be almost double the current national deficit within five years. The only real options are to fund massive new prison construction projects or to stop flooding the prison system with small-time drug offenders. Funding more prisons is impractical at this time, with all governmental budgets under a squeeze. Thus reducing the annual number of drug convictions is virtually inevitable. This is yet another reason to focus less on enforcement and more on non-punitive approaches to drugs where possible. Some Immediate Budget Savings There are some specific steps that the administration should immediately take in changing federal drug control budget priorities. These would be both practical and symbolic changes evidencing a more humane approach to drug abuse: o An immediate moratorium should be placed on new prison construction. If there is one thing the last decade of rapid expansion of prisons has taught us, it is that more prisons do not mean less crime. o Reserve existing prison space for violent criminals--stop using incarceration in drug possession cases and for non-violent drug offenders. We should focus on keeping extremely dangerous criminals under lock and key, while utilizing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent individuals who may yet be capable of productive livelihoods. Such alternatives would include intensive supervised probation, high school equivalency programs, community service programs and job training. Putting masses of young people in jail makes them less productive citizens in the long run, while training and educating them offers real options for the future. o Reduce prison sentences for people incarcerated for possession convictions and non-violent drug offenses. As many of these people are serving mandatory sentences, the administration should ask Congress to give judges discretion to release certain inmates before their scheduled mandatory terms expire. Money saved could be used to develop other programs within the prisons, such as drug treatment, training and education. o The President should order home all Department of Defense personnel and quasi-military representatives of federal agencies stationed abroad to fight drugs. The DoD is an expensive participant in the drug war, with a drug budget approaching $1 billion annually. Yet even with stepped-up participation by the military and DEA advisers, interdiction and eradication programs have remained a costly failure. We should withdraw those forces and also stop the use of DoD in drug enforcement within the United States. These are immediate first steps that the administration should take to begin reversing funding priorities. The remainder of this report suggests some specific changes which need to be made on broader policy issues. DRUG BUDGETS EMPHASIZE ENFORCEMENT XX -- Enforcement, Interdiction, Eradication OO -- Treatment, Prevention, Education 100% XX XX 75% XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX OO XX XX XX XX XX XX 50% OO XXOO XX XX XX XX XX XX XXOO XXOO XX XX XX XX XX XX XXOO XXOO XX XX XX XX XX XX XXOO XXOO XX XX XX XX XX XXOO 25% XXOO XXOO XXOO XX XX XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO XXOO ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ 1970 1976 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 Sources: U.S. General Accounting Office and National Drug Control Strategies of 1989 and 1991, NDCS figures reflect administration requests, not appropriated funds. [reasonably good ASCII translation -- lamontg@milton.u.washington.edu] 2. CURTAIL AIDS: MAKE CLEAN NEEDLES AVAILABLE TO INTRAVENOUS DRUG ADDICTS The Bush administration and drug czar Martinez should heed the advice of the National Commission on AIDS, whose July 1991 report, "The Twin Epidemics of Substance Use and HIV," urged implementation of clean needle exchange and other programs targeting addicts. The report stated in part: We must take immediate steps to curb the current spread of HIV infection among those who cannot get treatment or who cannot stop taking drugs. Outreach programs which operate needle exchanges and distribute bleach not only help to control the spread of HIV, but also refer many individuals to treatment programs. Legal sanctions on injection equipment do not reduce illicit drug use, but they do increase the sharing of injection equipment and hence the spread of HIV infection. The AIDS Commission used figures from the Centers for Disease Control to calculate that 32 percent of known American AIDS cases began with a dirty needle. These cases do not just reflect drug-injecting addicts coming down with the disease, but also their sexual partners and children. Injecting addicts are a major vehicle for transmission of the HIV virus because their lack of access to clean needles forces them to share injecting equipment, which is tantamount to sharing blood. Needle Exchange is an Urgent Requirement for AIDS Policy There is no excuse for delaying needle exchange any longer. The nation is facing a public health crisis in the form of AIDS, and all measures to curtail the spread of the disease are urgent requirements in public policy. Recent reports from needle exchanges in Tacoma, Washington and New Haven, Connecticut--as well as most of Europe and Australia--show clearly and convincingly that providing addicts with sterile needles in return for used needles reduces the prevalence of AIDS and gets addicts into drug treatment programs. President Bush and drug czar Martinez have firmly opposed needle exchange, even in the wake of the National Commission on AIDS report. Like many Americans, they have a lingering fear that needle exchange might appear to condone drug use, and they would rather addicts stop using drugs than use them more safely with clean needles. This fear ignores the studies that show needle exchange programs increase the number of addicts seeking drug treatment. Such concerns argue forcefully for providing expanded treatment options, but are insufficient to override the immediate need for needle exchange. No one can avoid the underlying reality--_drug_ _addiction_is_rarely_fatal,_but_AIDS_always_is_. An addict who contracts AIDS is ultimately lost forever, as are all the people he or she infects. It is time to end the posturing against clean needles that results in thousands of deaths every year, and will only add more casualties the longer it persists. Continuing the present course will sow the seeds for an even greater crisis in health care, as the cost of treating AIDS patients will help bankrupt the already strapped health care system. The administration must reverse its stand on needle exchange to send a clear and urgent signal to the states and cities. Repeal the Federal Ban on Needle Exchange Research In addition, the drug czar should work with Congress to repeal the federal ban on use of government funds to study needle exchange. U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) sponsored a successful amendment to a 1988 public health funding bill that prohibited many federal agencies and their contractors from associating with or studying needle exchange programs. After repeal of this cruel ban, studies can be commissioned looking at the experiences of several American and foreign cities with underground and legal needle exchanges. But such studies will be no substitute for action--they must be undertaken concurrently with wider use of legal clean needle programs. Action Now Will Help Shut Down a Major Source of HIV Infections The administration has the opportunity to take the lead in shutting down one major vehicle for transmission of HIV, one that has led to nearly one third of American AIDS cases. Failing to take action would be a dereliction of public health responsibility of the highest order. AIDS Cases Traced to IV Drug Use, by Year 16 14 X XXXXXX 12 XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 8 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 6 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 4 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 0XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 Figures, _in_thousands_, represent total adult AIDS cases associated with intravenous(IV) drug use. Graph does not include HIV-positive cases where full-blown AIDS has not yet developed. Sources: National Commission on AIDS and Centers for Disease Control. 3. Increase Drug Treatment Availability o Develop a Plan for Drug Treatment on Demand o Allow Medicaid to Pay for Treatment for the Poor o Expand the Variety of Treatment Options Available The drug czar should take a comprehensive assessment of drug treatment availability nationwide, then propose a target date and a plan of attack for achieving treatment on demand everywhere in the United States. Governor Martinez should also work with Congress on legislation allowing Medicaid to cover drug treatment expenses for our nation's poor. Martinez Treatment Record Lacking Drug czar Martinez claims to have changed his stripes since his one term as governor of Florida, where he strongly emphasized law enforcement and mass arrests to control drug abuse. Under his leadership, Florida lagged one-fifth behind the average state in per capita drug treatment funding and gave less than half what the average state gave to drug education and prevention. This poor record on treatment and education came despite Florida's desperate drug problem throughout the 1980s. Mr. Martinez now admits the importance of drug treatment and has vowed to make it a focus of his tenure as drug czar. His commitment could not come at a more urgent time. Nationwide, waiting lists for treatment programs are months long. Recent figures from the NIDA Household Survey on Drug Abuse show a particularly acute need for treatment among hard-core drug-using populations in the inner cities. Too many Americans seeking help for their drug problems are finding it unavailable or finding they cannot afford it. Make Treatment on Demand a Real Administration Commitment Nineteen ninety-two must be the year that "drug treatment on demand" is transformed from a mere slogan to a comprehensive program. To this end, drug czar Martinez should order his office to undertake an assessment of drug treatment availability and needs state-by-state, then work with Congress to develop a plan to achieve treatment on demand by an agreed-upon target date. Failure of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to take the lead on such an initiative will indicate a purely rhetorical commitment to providing urgently needed drug treatment services. Part of any plan to provide drug treatment more widely must be a commitment to diversity in treatment methods and funding options. The plan should include easier access to methadone programs, religious and non-religious-based treatment and research on new treatment methods, including other maintenance drugs. In light of evidence suggesting a resurgence in heroin imports and usage, we must learn from our national experience with heroin outbreaks in the 1960s and 1970s. Methadone programs are one of the effective legacies of that experience, and they must be strengthened in preparation for the new heroin surge. Treatment should be non-coercive and user-friendly, not a new form of punishment. Coercive treatment is particularly inappropriate when people are waiting for treatment slots. In this regard we are especially concerned about children abused in drug treatment programs. President Bush should rescind his endorsement of Straight, Inc., the confrontational youth treatment center found guilty of abuses and rights violations. Reports of abuse continue to flow out of its centers across the country. Whether a program is federally sponsored, state-sponsored, a partnership or a private program, adequate funding should be made available by state and federal authorities, subject to appropriate conditions. This approach is the quickest way to expand treatment availability without incurring great construction and startup costs, while helping the private treatment business flourish. President Should Tell HCFA to Arrange Medicaid Coverage of Treatment Members of Congress and the General Accounting Office have recently pointed out the great opportunities lost because Medicaid does not cover most drug treatment services in most states. Our nation's poor, the population which can least afford treatment and which contains many of the hardest-to-reach drug abusers, would be the immediate winners if the federal Medicaid guidelines were changed. The president and director Martinez should work with the Health Care Financing Administration and Congress now to develop a policy on the use of Medicaid funds for substance abuse treatment, especially for pregnant women. This work will also serve as a model for state health services departments to expand treatment availability. Florida Treatment, Prevention Lagged under Martinez $8 $7.47 OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO Per Capita Spending $7 OOOOOOOO 1989 OOOOOOOO $6.29 OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO $6 XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXX Florida XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO OOOO average state $5 XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO $4 XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO $3 XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO $2 XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO $1.41 XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO $1 XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO $.61 OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO XXXXXXXX OOOOOOOO Treatment Prevention Sources: National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors and the U.S. Census Bureau 4. STOP PROSECUTIONS OF PREGNANT DRUG USERS At least 20 states have resorted to prosecuting women for using drugs during pregnancy, often through convoluted interpretations of drug trafficking laws. But this law enforcement practice is counterproductive in the long run because it frightens drug-using women away from seeking treatment and prenatal care once they become pregnant. Drug czar Martinez should use his national pulpit to urge states to cease this practice, so that pregnant women can fully utilize prenatal care and drug treatment programs without fear. Drug War is Bad for Medicine In one of its most destructive intrusions, the drug war has moved into the realm of medicine. Putting police and prosecutors in charge of doctors has harmed health care in a number of ways. People are denied medicines of proven efficacy, drug users and addicts are afraid to seek medical treatment of any kind, and research on drugs with potential medical uses is stunted. Doctors are afraid to prescribe adequate amounts of powerful painkillers due to the threat of unwarranted prosecution. As a result hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans live and die in pain every year. This recommendation focuses on one specific example of the perverse effects that arise when drug war tactics are used to handle medical problems. In short, the use of criminal prosecutions may have resulted in more drug-exposed babies being born than would have existed otherwise. It is now time to reverse this basic strategic error and reduce the damage caused by criminalizing pregnant women. Prosecutions: A counterproductive Reaction to the Crack Baby Problem As the problem of crack babies has received wider national attention, many states have tried to use criminalization to reduce the number of babies born to drug-using mothers. Several women have been prosecuted under a bizarre legal doctrine: "drug trafficking through the umbilical cord." This theory holds that in the 30 to 60 seconds between birth and the severing of the umbilical cord, a mother passes illegal drugs to her baby, thereby trafficking drugs to a minor. Several states have made pregnant drug use a violation of civil codes with punishments ranging from fines to loss of custody of the mother's children. In 1991, according to the ACLU, efforts were made in at least seven states to create the new and separate crime of drug use during pregnancy. The problem is that such laws and prosecutions--aimed at deterring pregnant women from using drugs--have the effect of discouraging drug-using mothers-to-be from entering drug treatment programs or seeking proper prenatal care. Thus laws targeting pregnant drug users risk increasing the incidence of the very problem they were designed to curtail. Surely the threat of law enforcement action contributes to the fact that less than 11 percent of pregnant women who need drug treatment actually get it, as estimated by the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD). Drug Czar Should Support a Moratorium on Prosecutions Drug czar Martinez can help reverse this trend by encouraging a moratorium on prosecutions of pregnant women. That would be an essential part of any genuine effort to reduce the crack baby problem. When women caught up in the cycle of drug use and addiction become pregnant, they must know they can get immediate help for themselves and for their babies without risk of jail time or other harsh repercussions. Otherwise they will avoid help or try, against all odds, to help themselves--with disastrous results. Supporting a moratorium on state-level prosecutions of pregnant women should be consistent with stated administration views. In the 1991 National Drug Control Strategy (page 53), the ONDCP wrote: Some states have brought criminal prosecutions against pregnant addicts on the grounds of fetal endangerment. Such prosecutions, however, have generally been unsuccessful, and the administration views criminal incarceration of these women as a last resort. From these words, it is not clear whether the administration merely considers prosecutions too blunt an instrument or if it sees the genuine dangers posed by a continuation of the criminal threat against women. But it should resolve any uncertainty now and make an effort to stop this trend. A message delivered by the drug czar to the National Association of Attorneys General and the National Association of District Attorneys could instantly halt the practice. Until women get the message that a helping hand is available, the nation risks creating more crack babies by means of laws aimed at preventing them. 5. MAKE MEDICAL MARIJUANA AVAILABLE TO THE SERIOUSLY ILL Doctors, cancer therapists, opthamologists, and the Drug Enforcement Administration's own chief administrative law judge agree that marijuana has medical value. President Bush should order the Food and Drug Administration and DEA to join in helping make marijuana available, by prescription, to the tens of thousands of seriously ill Americans who could benefit from its use. It is fully within the president's power to take this action. There is no reason to delay this compassionate step for one more day. FDA Should Reinstate Its Medical Marijuana Program Last July, the Public Health Service and FDA announced the shutdown of the so-called "compassionate IND (investigative new drug)" program which provided government-grown marijuana to sufferers of glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis and AIDS. The cancellation--announced but not yet official--came at a time when even greater need for the program was showing. Hundreds of applications had begun to flow in from AIDS patients and their doctors, who understood the medical benefits marijuana has for symptoms such as the "wasting syndrome" faced by late-stage AIDS sufferers. The reasons given by the administration for closing down the program had little to do with science or medicine. PHS Director James O. Mason cited his concern that wider use of the compassionate IND program might undermine the administration's broader anti-drug effort. But such reasoning is fallacious. Most Americans can easily see the difference between medical uses of a drug and non-medical uses. Otherwise, cocaine, morphine and other opium-derived drugs--all used medically--would be perceived much differently today. DEA Urged to Transfer Marijuana to Schedule II By Its Own Chief Justice The DEA has used the same reasoning to fight the reclassification of marijuana for almost two decades. But at each critical juncture in the battle, the agency has faced defeat in objective forums. Among these was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last April 26, where a three-judge panel unanimously agreed DEA was being "unreasonable" in its persistence in the medical prohibition. In 1988 the agency's own chief administrative law judge, Francis L. Young, had urged that marijuana be moved to DEA's Schedule II, allowing prescription of the drug by doctors. The most flaccid argument against medical marijuana is that it is not medically effective, or that other drugs are as good or better. The administration and its defenders should try telling that to the doctors and patients who have found otherwise. Instead of taking the government's word, they are going out and purchasing the drug through illicit channels, risking arrest for relief. As a result, many have faced criminal prosecution. Sufferers of any disease should not be forced to buy their medicine on the street. Every day tens of thousands of seriously ill Americans suffer needlessly because of the Bush administration's intrasigence on medical marijuana policy. Mr. Martinez can help eliminate the absurd stigma preventing marijuana's legitimate medical usage by assuring the nation that medical use and non-medical use of the drug are different. The president should then order the responsible federal agencies to do everything in their power to give patients with a demonstrated need access to the drug. Patients Enrolled in Government Medical Marijuana Program, by Disease AIDS..................................11 Cancer.................................1 Chronic Pain...........................4 Glaucoma...............................5 Spasticity/Paralysis...................9 Other..................................4 ---------------------------------------- Total Marijuana Approvals.............34 Current Recipients....................12 ---------------------------------------- Estimated Applicants "On Hold".......300 Table describes patients who have gone through application process for FDA's "Compassionate IND" program seeking marijuana cigarettes for medical use. Applications listed as "on hold" were submitted but had no government action taken on them before June 21, 1991 announcement of program cancellation. Source: Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics. 6. APPOINT A COMMISSION TO SERIOUSLY EXAMINE ALTERNATIVES TO PROHIBITION The national policy of drug prohibition has not appreciably reduced the supply of illegal drugs, but it has bred crime and violence on a massive scale. Education, prevention and treatment are going to be the keys to reducing drug use whether drugs can be purchased legally or only on the black market. It is time to look honestly at the experiences of other nations with illegal drugs and at our own experiences with legal drugs to develop new, health-based policies for reducing substance abuse. We must also look at effective new measures to reduce the incentives for crime, rather than focusing on punishment. Continued reliance on law enforcement as the centerpiece of drug policy would be absurd in light of its track record. Prohibition's Failures Evident Everywhere Efforts to stem the importation and distribution of illegal drugs have been boosted in the last decade. But little effect has been noted from these increasingly expensive and dangerous activities. The National Narcotics Intelligence Consumers Committee (NNICC), the leading federal interagency drug intelligence group, estimates that 30,000 tons of marijuana, 800 tons of cocaine and 350 tons of heroin were available to American drug users in 1990. Interdiction attempts still fail to catch anything more than 5 to 15 percent of all the drugs shipped to the United States. In short, prohibition is not preventing drugs from coming into the country, it is not preventing their distribution to all corners of the nation and it is not preventing those who wish to use drugs from doing do. Meanwhile, drug-related violence, crime and homicide rates have reached record levels. The District of Columbia, once touted by drug czar William Bennett as a "test case" for the national strategy, broke its record for homicides for the third straight year with 489 citizens killed in 1991. Much of this violence in D.C. and in other major cities is traceable to fights among drug dealers and traffickers that would not occur without prohibition. Innocent victims caught in the crossfire compromise an increasing proportion of those killed. Many more Americans are victims of petty thefts and property crimes directly related to the high prices addicts pay for their black market drugs. 'Final Victory' Not Possible; Nation Needs a New Drug Policy Direction It is interesting to note that only a few years into the Bush administration's anti-drug effort, we have ceased to hear talk of a "drug-free society." Perhaps this phrase--so popular in the 1988 campaign and during 1989 as President Bush prepared to launch his drug war--was never anything more than a rhetorical chimera. But its absence from the current drug debate leaves some questions as to what the ultimate goal of prohibitionist drug policy really is. If no one believes illegal drugs can be completely eliminated, what will constitute the "final victory" drug czar Martinez recently said he is committed to achieving? We fear the reality is that the administration has chosen a path favoring drug war forever, without regard to its impact on our society. This path will unquestionably lead to greater financial costs, greater violence, diminished health protection, creation of more potent and dangerous drugs, and continued erosion of civil liberties. There are alternatives to having a drug war forever. We urge the administration and Congress to appoint a national commission to evaluate the available options. No serious alternative to prohibition would constitute abandonment of the anti-drug mission. After decades of drug war, however, we ought to be sensible enough to recognize which strategies work and which exacerbate the problems they target. With this knowledge, we can reorient our national drug policy to make it more cost-effective and less socially harmful. Alternatives considered should span the following range of options: o A treatment and prevention emphasis aimed at reducing the demand for drugs while imposing less of a burden on the criminal justice system. o Reduction or elimination of criminal sanctions for drug possession and use, lessening the costs associated with prosecuting individuals who pose no immediate threat to others. Treatment offerings could be combined with civil fines toward this end. reducing reliance on penalties would include returning sentencing discretion to judges, whose role has been undermined by statutory mandatory sentences and mandatory sentencing guidelines. o Eliminating the federal monopoly on drug policy and leaving the states to decide which drugs, if any, to prohibit. States would have maximum choice to tailor drug policy in various cities and counties, as problems warranted. This model is based on the repeal of Prohibition, which returned control over the drug alcohol to state legislatures. o Allowing some physicians to prescribe currently illegal drugs to their addicted patients as part of a privatized treatment regime. This strategy could ultimately bring more people into treatment at less cost to taxpayers. o Conversion of the unregulated black market in drugs to a legal free market with moderate government regulation. This would be part of a strategy to eliminate drug-trade-related crime and thefts related to high prohibition-era drug prices. Such a change would require us to look carefully at our current policies towards legal drugs, such as alcohol and tobacco, where success has been mixed. Develop New, More Comprehensive Measures of Progress While looking at alternatives to current policy, the commission should also develop new standards for gauging drug policy progress. At present, our nation's overall drug policy tends to be analyzed mainly in terms of changes in the rates of drug use among various populations. If certain rates go up, the drug war is viewed by some as a failure. If other rates go down, drug policies are touted as a success. More specific standards would help make a cost-benefit analysis of drug policy possible. A cost-benefit framework based on hard numbers--including better figures on drug usage levels, crime and homicide rates, drug emergencies, data from the AIDS front, and treatment availability--could help to drive wiser policy choices. With such a framework in place, Americans will be assured that they are receiving the best possible return on their tax dollars while effectively managing drugs. New standards would also permit analysts to take all aspects of the drug situation into account in producing an informed judgment on the nation's overall drug policy. CONCLUSION We suspect--as many Americans do--that drugs are here to stay. Drugs including everything from alcohol to Xanex, coffee to cocaine, tea to cannabis, and tobacco to LSD have been around for years. they only diminish or disappear when people lose interest in them, not when governments decide to eradicate them. Given this most basic reality of the drug situation, a sand drug policy must be one which focuses on steering people away from harmful substances and harmful behaviors, and toward productive lives. Government's primary concerns in the drug policy realm should be protecting citizens from unnecessary crimes and facilitating recovery from drug dependency. For once, it would be good to see America's leaders attack a problem without using the language and tactics of war. War tends to rally the public passions and to equip the soldiers well, but too often at the expense of not dealing with the root causes of the problems. The drug war is an unconventional war being fought against an unconventional enemy--ourselves. It is time now for all Americans to come to a solemn realization: we cannot help our neighbor by fighting our neighbor. Drug czar Martinez, President Bush and the Congress have a historic opportunity to learn from the last two decades of intense but failed drug war. We can then make necessary changes in drug policy to help create a safer, healthier America. Or the administration can persist in repeating the mistakes of the past. APPENDIX A History of Imparital Reports Demands Reconsideration of Current Drug Policy The recommendations contained in this reform strategy are consistent with the findings of many independent commissions that have evaluated drug policy alternatives in the past. We urge the Office of National Drug Control Policy to review these impartial scientific reports and rely on them as we have. Many of these reports come from the United States, but some of the most insightful come from other countries. None calls for full legalization of drugs or views any of the drugs, including marijuana, as harmless, but each of the reports without fail calls for a gentle, humane approach to dealing with drug users and abusers. None of these great commission reports calls for a war on drugs, on users or on addicts. Some countries, notably Britain and Holland, have followed much of the advice of these non-partisan expert reports. Others, most notably the United States, have consistently ignored them. Following are the summaries of the key findings of these reports. Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, _Marijuana_, 1893-94. This 3,281-page, seven volume classic report on the marijuana problem in India by British and Indian experts concluded: "Viewing the subject generally, it may be added that the moderate use of these drugs is the rule, and that the excessive use is comparatively exceptional. The moderate use produces practically no ill effects." Nothing of significance in the report's conclusions has been proven wrong in the intervening century. _The_Panama_Canal_Zone_Military_Investigations, 1916-1923. After an exhaustive study of the smoking of marijuana among American soldiers stationed in the zone, the panel of civilian and military experts recommended that "no steps be taken by the Canal Zone authorities to prevent the sale or use of Marihuana." The committee also concluded that "there is no evidence that Marihuana as grown and used [in the Canal Zone] is a 'habit-forming' drug." Departmental Committee on Morphine and Heroin Addiction, _Report_, 1926 (The Rolleston Report). This landmark study by a distinguished group of British doctors, appointed by the government, codified existing practices regarding the maintenance of addicts on heroin and morphine by individual doctors and recommended that they continue without police or medical society interference. In coming to this conclusion, these physicians displayed a humane regard for the addicts in their care, perhaps due to their view of the nature of narcotic addiction: "the condition must be regarded as a manifestation of a disease and not as a mere form of vicious indulgence." The British addiction experts took pains to state that they did not agree with the opinions of "some eminent physicians, especially in the United States" that addicts "could always be cured by sudden withdrawal." Mayor's Committee on Marihuana, _The_Marihuana_Problem_in_the_City_of_New_ _York_, 1944 (The La Guardia Report). This study is viewed by many experts as the best study of any drug viewed in its social, medical and legal context. The committee covered thousands of years of the history of marijuana and also made a detailed examination of conditions in New York City. Among its conclusions: "The practice of smoking marihuana does not lead to addiction in the medical sense of the word." And: "The use of marihuana does not lead to morphine or heroin or cocaine addiction and no effort is made to create a market for those narcotics by stimulating the practice of marihuana smoking." Finally: "The publicity concerning the catastrophic effects of marihuana smoking in New York City is unfounded." Interdepartmental Committee, _Drug_Addiction_, 1961 (The First Brain Report). When the Brain Committee first met at the invitation of the Minister of Health, its mission was to review the advice given by the Rolleston Committee of 1926. That advice had been to continue to allow doctors to treat addicts with maintenance doses of powerful drugs when the doctors deemed it medically helpful for the patient. Brain I reiterated that advice and in this first report recommended no changes of any significance on the prescribing powers of doctors. This report expanded on one important point alluded to in Rolleston: the authenticity of the existence of "stabilized addicts." While many American experts doubt their existence, this report explained, "careful scrutiny of the histories of more than a hundred persons classified as addicts reveals that many of them who have been taking small and regular doses for years show little evidence of tolerance and are often leading reasonably satisfactory lives." Six "case histories of known stabilized addicts" were included in an appendix. They were mature, older patients, functioning normally on what would be huge doses of drugs by American standards. "Mr. F.," for example, a clerical worker, was receiving the equivalent of 200 milligrams of morphine tablets each day. It is likely that these patients and their doctors would be dealt with as criminals in the United States. Joint Committee on the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association on Narcotic Drugs, _Drug_Addiction:_Crime_or_Disease?, Interim and Final Reports, 1961. This report was the result of the only major combined study of drug policy made by two of the most important professional societies in the country. Chaired by attorney Rufus King of Washington,D.C., the committee presented a direct challenge to the touch policies of Federal Bureau of Narcotics Directory Harry Anslinger, a philosophical ancestor of the previous drug czar, William Bennett. The blue-ribbon committee included a senior federal judge and was advised by Indiana University's Alfred Lindesmith, one of the most distinguished addiction scholars in history. The report observed, "drug addiction is primarily a problem for the physician rather than the policeman, and it should not be necessary for anyone to violate the criminal law solely because he is addicted to drugs." The report concluded that drug addiction was a disease, not a crime, that harsh criminal penalties were destructive, that drug prohibition ought to be reexamined, and that experiments should be conducted with British-style maintenance clinics for narcotic addicts. Interdepartmental Committee, Drug Addiction, _Second_Report_, 1965 (The Second Brain Report). Brain II has been consistently misinterpreted by leading American scholars and officials. It did not recommend the dismantling of the British prescription system nor the compulsory registration of addicts, as has been claimed. Instead, Brain II urged that (1) doctors who wished to prescribe "restricted drugs" to addicts for the purpose of maintenance be required to obtain a special license from the Home Office, (2) treatment centers be established for treating addicts who were to be regarded as sick and not criminal, and (3) doctors and other medical personnel be mandated to "notify" the Home Office when they encountered and addict in the course of their professional work. Originally, the category of restricted drugs included heroin and cocaine; now, dipipanone has been added. However, the core of the British system remains, and in recent years, has been reinvigorated. Approximately 200 doctors with special licenses are free to prescribe all drugs, including the restricted medicines, for maintenance, including, for example, injectable morphine and methadone. Brain II in the end was aimed at controlling a few overprescribing doctors, not at adopting the American system of treating addicts as the enemy. Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence, _Cannabis_, 1968 (the Wooton Report). This study report on marijuana and hashish was prepared by a group that included some of the leading drug abuse experts of the United Kingdom. These impartial experts worked as a subcommittee under the lead of Baroness Wooton of Abinger. The basic tone and substantive conclusions were similar to all of the other great commission reports. The Wooton group specifically endorsed the conclusions of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission and the La Guardia Committee. Typical findings included the following. "There is no evidence that in Western society serious physical dangers are directly associated with the smoking cannabis." "It can clearly be argued on the world picture that cannabis use does not lead to heroin addiction." "The evidence of a link with violent crime is far stronger with alcohol than with the smoking of cannabis." "There is no evidence that this activity...is producing in otherwise normal people conditions of dependence or psychosis, requiring medical treatment." National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, _Drug_Use_in_America:_ _Problem_in_Perspective_, 1973. This commission was directed by Raymond P. Shafer, former Republican governor of Pennsylvania, and had four sitting, elected politicians among its 11 members. The commission also had leading addiction scholars among its members and staff. It was appointed by President Nixon in the midst of the drug war hysteria at that time. While the commission supported much existing policy, it produced two reflective reports, this being the final comprehensive document, which recommended research, experimentation and humane compromise. The first recommendations of the commission were: "1. Possession of marihuana for personal use would no longer be an offense, but marihuana possessed in public would remain contraband subject to summary seizure and forfeiture. "2. Causal distribution of small amounts of marihuana for no remuneration, or insignificant remuneration not involving profit, would no longer be an offense." National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, _An_Analysis_ _of_Marihuana_Policy, 1982 The NAS Committee on Substance Abuse and Habitual Behavior was composed of some of the leading American experts on medicine, addiction treatment, law, business and public policy. These experts reviewed all of the available evidence on every aspect of the marijuana question. The committee then recommended that the country experiment with a system that would allow states to set up their own methods of controlling marijuana as is now done with alcohol. Under this approach, federal criminal penalties would be removed and each state could decide to legalize the drug and impose regulations concerning hours of sale, age limits and taxation. In the same vein as all the previous major objective studies, this report stated that excessive marijuana use could cause serious harm, that such use was rare, and that on balance the current policy of total prohibition was socially and personally destructive. The report placed great emphasis on building up public education and informal social controls, which often have a greater impact on drug abuse than the criminal law. Regarding the possibility of disaster for our youth under legalization, the report observed: "...there is reason to believe that widespread uncontrolled use would not occur under regulation. Indeed, regulation might facilitate patterns of controlled use by diminishing the 'forbidden fruit' aspect of the drug and perhaps increasing the likelihood that an adolescent would be introduced to the drug through families and friends, who practice moderate use, rather than from their heaviest-using, most drug-involved peers." Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, _AIDS_and_Drug_Misuse,_Part_1_, 1988; _Part_2_, 1989. "The spread of HIV is a greater danger to individual and public health than drug misuse," declared the leading drug abuse and health experts of the United Kingdom who sit on this distinguished quasi-governmental advisory group. This concept operated as the guiding principle in this commission report, one part issued in 1988, on in 1989. In stark contrast to the Bush Administration's war plans the British council provided a comprehensive health plan that seeks to prevent the use of drugs, as is the American goal. However, the plan has realistic goals regarding drug abusers: abstinence in the American mode, where possible, but above all else, health and life. Thus, the Advisory Council accepted the lessons of the "harm reduction" programs of the Liverpool area and recommended that they be spread to the entire United Kingdom. Some of these lessons involve needle exchanges and prescribed drugs for addicts. The report even went beyond the Liverpool experience when these leading British experts quietly observed "we believe that there is a place for an expansion of residential facilities where drug misusers may gain better health, skills and self-confidence whilst in receipt of prescribed drugs." Thus, while the United States is planning more prison space for drug addicts, the United Kingdom is contemplating more hostels where addicts could be taught to live more healthy, more self-confident and more productive lives in the community whilst in receipt of prescribed drugs. _The_Twentieth_Annual_Report_of_the_California_Research_Advisory_Panel, 1989 This panel, appointed by the state legislature of California to regulate all research on controlled substances, reviewed drug policy and recommended that "the legislature act to redirect this state away from the present destructive pathways of drug control." The report noted that we had followed a path of prohibition over the last 50 years and concluded this policy "has been manifestly unsuccessful in that we are now using more and a greater variety of drugs, legal and illegal." In addition, the failure of prohibition has resulted in "societal overreaction [that] has burdened us with ineffectual, inhumane and expensive treatment education and enforcement efforts." They recommend a move toward the formulation of "legislation aiming at regulation and decriminalization" and the winding down of the war on drugs. The Research Advisory Panel made three specific recommendation for initial legislative action. These were: 1. Permit the possession of syringes and needles. 2. Permit the cultivation of marijuana for personal use. 3. In order to project an attitude of disapproval of all drug use, take a token action in forbidding the sale or consumption of alcohol in state- supported institutions devoted in part or whole to patient care or educational activity. The panel recommended immediate and innovative action, concluding it is "incontrovertible that whatever policies we have been following over the past generations must not be continued unexamined and unmodified since our actions to date have favored the development of massive individual and societal problems." The National Commission on AIDS, "The Twin Epidemics of Substance Use and HIV," July 1991. This indictment of current drug policy focuses on the relationship between the spread of HIV and drug use. The commission criticized the federal government's failure to recognize that these are twin epidemics and found that the "strategy of interdiction and increased prison sentences has done nothing to change the stark statistics" showing spread of AIDS by drug users. The commission singled out the Office of National Drug Control Policy for ignoring AIDS and "neglect[ing] the real public health and treatment measures which could and must be taken to halt the spread." The Commission put forward five recommendations: 1. Expand drug treatment so that all who apply for treatment can be accepted into treatment programs. 2. Remove legal barriers to the purchase and possession of injection equipment. 3. The federal government must take the lead in developing and maintaining programs to prevent HIV transmission related to licit and illicit drugs. 4. Research and epidemiologic studies on the relationships between licit and illicit drug use and HIV transmission should be greatly expanded and funding should be increased, not reduced or merely held constant. 5. All levels of government and the private sector need to mount a serious and sustained attack on the social problems of poverty, homelessness and lack of medical care that promote licit and illicit drug use in American society. The National Commission on AIDS could be described as the echo of the British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in its report on AIDS and Drug Misuse, as it made virtually the same policy recommendations. The Commission concluded that "the federal government must recognize that HIV and substance use is one of the issues of paramount concern within the 'war on drugs.' Any program which does not deal with the duality of the HIV/drug epidemic is destined to fail." The Commission urged the federal government to move away from a law enforcement approach in controlling drugs toward a public health approach which to date has "been seriously neglected." (End) / Ul by HeXOr .