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

:590I believe the Federal Government would assist itself, and certainly the professionalsin the field, if it would coordinate its various drug activities.We would not attempt to tell you what kind of agency or commission shouldbe established.We are therefore most encouraged by the announcement that the WhiteHouse will have a special unit acting as coordinator of the various Federalprograms.Your need, under any administrative mechanism is for a national plan tocombat drug abuse—^in all its forms. Just as the last session incorporated apriority system into Public Law 91-513, we think the Federal Government shouldassess the national drug scene, determine the priority areas, their programneeds, and concentrate on well-defined objectives within those areas.From our experience, you will need a powerful, well-funded, and highly flexibleadministrative mechanism to achieve such a plan and such objectives.In New York, Governor Rockefeller made the decision to vest funding authorityand control over the youthful drug abuser program in our Commission. Weproved that we could involve the Departments of Education, Mental Hygiene,and others in this total plan and apply our collective resources to a singleprogram.Finally, we support and encourage the various U.S. efforts on the internationalfront to control the production and traflSc in narcotic raw materials andto assist other nations, through international agencies, with their drug problems.Our State and our Commission have more than a passing interest in suchactivities because we are truly held captive by forces beyond our control.It has been argued that we in the treatment, rehabilitation, education, andprevention fields are fighting a holding action. We cannot, in a real sen.se. thisargument goes, win the larger war until you win the battle to control narcotics.The supply is simply too great.This is not totally true, however. Supply and demand in the narcotics fieldreinforce each other. Thus, the Federal Government must amend its posture oflate which has been to put its primary emphasis on external controls and lawenforcement. The legal and medical initiatives must be in balance.Recall the 1970 report of the World Health Organization's expert Committeeon Drug Dependence"Until the demand for dependence-producing drugs is markedly reduced, itcannot be reasonably expected that measures to control their availability willhave the desired result. A reduction in demand can be achieved only by preventivemeasures designed to limit interest in drugs on the part of potential usersand through effective treatment and rehabilitation of drug dependent persons."Perhaps the best evidence of this is the case of Sweden which has bannedamphetamine production. Yet. according to Dr. Rexed. their national authority,the intravaneous injections of amphetamines continues to be their primarydrug problem.The more commonly used example, of course, is the United States which forbidsthe production of opium and heroin, yet. is the largest consumer in theWestern World.Recently, an international expert on narcotics confided to us his opinion thatthe international cartels in narcotics have concluded that the U.S. efforts to controlthe flow of Turkish opium will succeed, if not this year, in the not too distantfuture. In this exi>ert's opinion, however, the traflSckers have already begun todevelop their trade channels to bring opium and heroin from Southeast Asiainto the United States. In fact, we are told that opiiun from this area beganreaching these shores in 1969.It is doubtful that any of these nations or even the trafl3ckers are concernedabout "hurting" the United States or inflicting a social dilemma upon us. It issimply a matter of economics. We have the world's key marketplace.We encourage the U.S. efforts in programs such as crop substitution and cropelimination in overseas countries. There are, however, risks which Mr. Ingersollis aware of, such as the risk that opium producers will simply take our moneyto retire one growth area and produce their opium in another.There are also the problems, as recent reports and news stories suggest, ofoflicial involvement by governments or government oflScials in other nations. Mr.Ingersoll recently charged ofBcial connivance on the part of some governments.We wish the Government the best of success, gentlemen, knowing the manyproblems. Our success and the lives of our children depend upon your efforts.