U.S. Drug Policy Aims at Prevention, Treatment and Demand Reduction

(Decrease in domestic drug use is encouraging, says McCaffrey) (1400)
By Lauren Monsen
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- An aggressive strategy to curb illicit drug use among
Americans is yielding significant results, says Gen. Barry McCaffrey,
director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP).

McCaffrey, who has vigorously promoted a multi-faceted approach to
fighting drug abuse during his four-year tenure as the top U.S. drug
policy official, recently returned from visits to Mexico and Colombia
-- where he pledged U.S. support for those countries'
counter-narcotics initiatives, and cited the effectiveness of a
coordinated response to drug-related problems in the United States.
"The U.S. success in reducing drug use shows that a concerted effort
can make a difference," he asserted.

To prove his point, McCaffrey quoted figures indicating a dramatic
50-percent decrease in illegal drug consumption within the United
States over the past two decades. And the ONDCP strategy now being
implemented, he stressed, "aims to reduce drug-use rates by [another]
50 percent in the coming decade." Explaining that the "prevention of
drug, alcohol and tobacco use among children and adolescents" is the
overriding goal of current U.S. drug policy, McCaffrey identified
"reduction in demand as the main focus of [domestic] drug-control
efforts."

The U.S. action plan incorporates many elements, calling for "drug
[use] prevention, education, and treatment [of addicts]" along with
"supply reduction abroad, interdiction on the borders, and strong law
enforcement within the United States," he noted. These components
reinforce one another, McCaffrey argued, combining to produce "a
balanced strategy" that can sharply diminish "the prevalence and
social consequences of drug abuse."

Those consequences are often dire, he explained, forcefully refuting
the theory that legalization of controlled substances would
essentially neutralize their potential for harm. "People who say that
drug use is a victimless crime are ignoring the facts," McCaffrey
observed. He described evidence suggesting that drug users are at much
higher risk for criminal behavior than their drug-free peers -- and
that drug use is consistently a factor in many serious offenses, such
as homicide, domestic violence and child maltreatment.

According to one report, he said, "drug abuse in the home renders a
woman 28 times more likely to be killed by a close relative."
McCaffrey also emphasized that "more than half the crime [in the U.S.]
is committed by individuals under the influence of drugs," adding:
"Researchers estimate that substance abuse is present in at least half
of all child-abuse and neglect cases." In the face of overwhelming
data on the horrific effects of illicit drug use, McCaffrey reasoned,
"the question of drug legalization comes down to whether we should
condone destructive behavior." The answer, he concluded, is an
unequivocal NO.

"U.S. law does not grant people the right to destroy themselves or
others," McCaffrey said. He endorsed the continuing prohibition on
drugs because "studies show that the more a product is available and
legitimized, the greater will be its use," warning that "if drugs were
legalized, the cost to the individual and society would grow
astronomically."

So, as the first line of defense against the drug scourge, the ONDCP
targets its message to youngsters in a widely-disseminated media
campaign designed to help adolescents understand the importance of
remaining drug-free. "If children reach adulthood without using
illegal drugs, alcohol or tobacco, they are unlikely to develop a
chemical-dependency problem," McCaffrey declared. "To this end, [ONDCP
strategy] seeks to involve parents, coaches, mentors, teachers, clergy
and other role models in a broad prevention campaign." Public-service
announcements appearing on radio, television, in the print media, and
on the Internet ensure that the largest possible audience is reached;
icons of popular culture, including professional athletes and
entertainers, have been recruited to further amplify the anti-drug
theme.

The ONDCP is careful to direct its drug-education efforts in ways
specifically tailored to the needs of various demographic groups,
McCaffrey said. For example, the message for Hispanic youths in a Los
Angeles barrio will have a different focus than an advertisement aimed
at middle-class white teens in the Midwestern United States, because
each group faces distinctly different pressures in a unique
environment. "We have to understand the nature of the drug threat and
the nature of the ethnic group we're talking to," McCaffrey cautioned.
Accordingly, the ONDCP media campaign delivers its message in several
languages other than English -- including Spanish, Mandarin,
Cantonese, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and American Indian
dialects.

McCaffrey characterized the campaign as "the strongest multi-cultural
communications effort ever launched by the federal government,"
pointing out that "we are reaching nearly every single American child
on a regular basis with anti-drug information." While the ONDCP does
not expect to see a measurable effect on adolescent drug use until two
years into the campaign, he said, its benefits are already apparent:
McCaffrey cited a marked increase in demand for anti-drug information
and the rising number of teen-agers who agreed that the ONDCP
advertisements "made them stay away from drugs."

The media campaign also communicates through posters placed in
shopping malls and urban areas, and by distributing in-school
educational materials and home videos "with appropriate ethnic
languages and relevant creative approaches," McCaffrey remarked.
Furthermore, he said, the ONDCP's efforts are supplemented by
community-based outreach programs throughout the United States --
"partnerships with national and local organizations," enabling the
ONDCP to "extend the anti-drug message to youth and adults wherever
they live, learn, work, play and pray."

While the ONDCP's drug-education strategy is most visible in its
high-profile media campaign, McCaffrey's office is involved with
numerous other projects as well. For example, he said, the ONDCP
advocates court-administered drug-treatment programs for non-violent
offenders as part of its goal to break "the cycle of drugs and crime."
The incentive to participate in such programs is strong, he noted:
"Defendants who complete the drug-court program either have their
charges dismissed or sentences -- and probation -- reduced." And "when
facing incarceration as an alternative, many drug users are able to
give up drugs entirely or greatly reduce their consumption as a result
of treatment," he added. "Criminal behavior as well as drug use drops
for graduates of [drug] treatment" programs.

Another strategic goal is "reducing the devastating health
consequences of drug abuse" among the general population, McCaffrey
said. He estimated that illicit drugs "kill 52,000 Americans
annually," with cocaine and heroin "responsible for a disproportionate
share" of the enormous societal cost of drug addiction. The ONDCP has
long emphasized the need for easily accessible treatment programs for
habitual drug users, and the Clinton Administration has "increased
federal government support for treatment by more than 30 percent over
the past four years," he affirmed.

The ONDCP continues to tackle "the still-too-large treatment gap,"
McCaffrey said, and the White House firmly believes that "providing
treatment for chronic drug abusers is both compassionate public policy
and a sound investment." In this area, as with the media campaign, the
ONDCP adopts a collaborative approach with drug-treatment facilities
across the nation -- spreading the word about treatment programs and
encouraging addicts to seek help.

The last two components of U.S. anti-drug policy -- shielding U.S.
borders from drug traffickers, and breaking both foreign and domestic
sources of supply -- highlight the importance of a global alliance
against drugs. "Every nation is obligated to protect its citizens from
the threats posed" by the illegal drug trade, McCaffrey declared. He
praised law enforcement authorities, whose interdiction of drug
shipments "in the transit and arrival zones," prosecution of drug
traffickers and detection of money-laundering schemes "disrupt and
dismantle trafficking organizations, including their
command-and-control structure and financial underpinnings."

He urged countries everywhere to join the United States in its efforts
to eradicate the drug cartels, reminding leaders that such criminal
enterprises "violate not only U.S. sovereignty, but that of other
nations, as they traffic [in] drugs." Finally, he said, the United
States will persist in hunting down the drug lords whose organizations
wreak so much havoc worldwide.

Arguing that drug-trafficking syndicates will continue to foster
corruption and violence -- and to undermine legitimate governments --
until they are effectively crushed, he reiterated that a global
commitment to fighting drugs is crucial. "International cooperation is
central to U.S. drug-control efforts," McCaffrey concluded.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
usinfo.state.gov)