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McCaffrey's
Swan
Song:
ONDCP
Releases
2001
National
Drug
Control
Strategy
Report
1/5/01
As the clock ticks down on
the nation's premier drug warrior, Gen. Barry McCaffrey is still up to
the same old tricks.
After helping to engineer
five years of escalating drug law enforcement budgets and arrests of drug
offenders, and despite his role in crafting the Clinton administration's
war plan for Colombia, McCaffrey wants to be remembered as a moderate.
To call it a war on drugs
is "misleading," said McCaffrey in the national drug war battle plan, which
calls for more of the same.
"Although wars are expected
to end, drug education -- like all schooling -- is a continuous process,"
explained the general. "The moment we believe ourselves victorious
and drop our guard, drug abuse will resurface in the next generation.
To reduce the demand for drugs, prevention must be ongoing."
McCaffrey once again reiterated
his preference for cancer over war as the metaphor of choice to describe
policies that criminalize millions of US citizens.
But he placed new emphasis
on treatment, which he said can "reduce the consequences of addiction."
Treatment for chronic drug users is "compassionate public policy and a
sound investment."
Other elements of McCaffrey's
final strategy range from the laudable (education) to the impossible (stopping
drugs at the US border and eliminating sources of supply) to the paradoxically
ironic (reducing drug-related crime and violence).
"Along with prevention and
treatment, law enforcement is essential for reducing drug use," McCaffrey
said. "Illegal drug trafficking inflicts violence and corruption
on our communities. Law enforcement is the first line of defense against
such unacceptable activity."
His report had nothing to
say about how efforts to prohibit drug use through massive repression "inflict
violence and corruption on our communities."
The 2001 National Drug Control
Strategy is available online at
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/policy/ndcs01/strategy2001.pdf
-- DRCNet will post a more complete analysis next week.
-- END --
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Issue #167, 1/5/01
New York Governor Pledges to "Dramatically Reform" Rockefeller Drug Laws, Skeptical Activists Await Specific Proposals | Still Giuliani Time: NYC Marijuana Arrests Go Through Roof While Coke-Snorting Yuppies Catch a Break | Hawaii Medical Marijuana: Open for Business | McCaffrey's Swan Song: ONDCP Releases 2001 National Drug Control Strategy Report | Banned in Boston, DC Says Okay: Marijuana Reform Ads Ride the Metro | Bluegrass Festival Threatens Suit Over Drug Checkpoint | Federal Court Drug-Testing Device Under Fire, PharmChem Sweat Patch May Be "Too Good" | Blue Ribbon New Mexico Advisory Group Issues Recommendations for Drug Policy Reform | Urgent Action: Ashcroft, Clemencies, Hemp | The Reformer's Calendar | Editorial: Talk is Cheap
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