Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...

;559Mr. Jones. With your permission, Mr, Chairman, I would like todepart from the usual practice, that is followed, I supj)ose, at thesehearings, to the extent of abondoning the text of the testimonythat we have prepared, copies of which were sent down in advance.Mr. Perito. Excuse me, Commissioner.At this point, Mr. Chairman, may the entire text of CommissionerJones' statement be submitted as part of the record ?Chairman Pepper. Without objection, it will be admitted in therecord.Mr. JoxES. For the record. I would like to mention that therewere some slight revisions made in the copies that were sent downpreviously. Revised copies have been submitted this morning and Iask your indulgence and express an apology for the late submission.We are especially pleased, Mr. Chairman, that your committee isconfining its attention at these hearings not just to the problem ofaddiction and treatment, but to the larger problem of the overallmanifestations and ramifications of narcotic dependence and drugaddiction. As you know, we are confronted with a nationwideChairman Pepper. Excuse me, just a minute. We have two very finemembers from New York, Mr. Frank Brasco and Mr. Eangel. Mr.Rangel was detained. He will be along shortly.Mr. Jones. I am sure I did not mean toMr. Brasco. That is perfectly all right.Mr. Jones. I think, Mr. Chairman, it will be helpful in our presentation,mindful of your tight schedule this morning and tlie fact thatseveral Governors will be appearing to testify, if we simply simimarizethe presentation that we would like to make, following which, andagain with an apology, we have submitted an addendum to our testimonywhich we thought would be necessary and helpful in connectionwith the recently announced programs that emanated from the WhiteHouse this past week.I would like, therefore, to present our testimony in these four maincategories : First of all, a summary of the text that we have submittedsome comments that are contained in the addendum with regard to thePresident's new proposals ; next, the implementations that we think arereasonable, perhaps even feasible, for this Congress to consider ; andfinally, to submit the various studies and reports that we brought along,authored largely by Dr. Carl Chambers, and with your indulgence, Iwould turn over the latter part of the presentation to Dr. Chambers.I think it will be helpful if we focus the discussion, Mr. Chairman,on the excellent frame of reference that the President made in his newsreleases recently. I am referring, of course, to the promise of the administrationthat the effort indeed the highest priority, will be given at alllevels of Government, not just to drug addiction as it affects returningveterans, but as it affects the Nation as a whole. At the time we preparedour text, our testimony, we did not have the details of thePresident's new program and that is why, as I said, the addendumwas prepared. I think it is absolutely essential that the Federal Governmentprovide for the treatment of returning veterans because Stateprogranis do not currently have the capacity to absorb this new groupof addicts. As you will see in the materials that will be submitted toyou, there is an estimated total of some 1,200 veteran addicts amongthe drug addict population in New York today, and I think it is signifi-