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

591We appreciate your frustration that some of the foreign governments really donot have effective control in the producing areas. I think you can appreciate oureven deeper frustration because we have no controls at all but must depend onothers who have little or no control either.Mr. IngersoU's successful effort to create a United Nations fund for drugabuse control is praiseworthy as are the preliminary plans of the United NationsDivision for Narcotics and other international agencies to implement the drugprogram.We also congratulate the U.S. delegation to the recent World Health Assemblyfor sponsoring the successful resolution on drug dependence. I should add thatour Commission is very proud that Rayburn Hesse, our special assistant forFederal-State relations, was the adviser on drugs to that delegation.The concern and hopeful involvement of other nations in this problem holdpromise for us. For too long this has been thought of as primarily an Americanproblem. As more nations become affected, unfortunately, we have our bestchance to attain true international cooperation.Thanks to the United States, the World Health Organization and its memberstates became committed to a resultion which declares that narcotic dependenceand nonnarcotic drug abuse are major world health problems, requiring the coordinatedefforts of the member states and international organizations andagencies.Similarly, the United States led in the effort to adopt a convention on psychotropicsubstances and is proposing amendments to the 1961 Single Convention onNarcotics, including mandatory embargoes and inspections.These two are promising initiatives.CONCLUSIONThere has been a tendency on the part of altogether too many people in thiscountry, including Government officials, to see our drug abusers as somethingother tlian social casualties. The black heroin addict suffers from very unfortunatecharacterizations which stigmatize him even after rehabilitation.But our adolescent drug abusers also suffer denigration. It's as though only ourAmerican youth were drug users, and that the only American youth involved arehippies, hippies, and yippies.On point one, the European Public Health Committee reported last year thatdrug dependence and drug abuse are today, in most European countries, a serioussocial, economic, and medical problem.That committee reported six discernible trends ; a growing incidence amongyoung iieople ; new patterns in drug dependence ; a rapid increase of the abuseof well-known drugs among other age groups ; a rising frequency of multiple dependencies,occurring in 50 per cent or more of ail cases ; an increasing numberof women dependents ; and, a rapidly increasing problem of alcoholism.As I said at the outset, this is truly a pandemic, and we will watch with interestthe response of the European nations, assessing not only the breadth of theircommitment, but also their ability to perform without the hypocrisy, indifference,and regressiveness that has stunted too many of our efforts.Whatever else these young drug abusers may be—acid heads, pot heads, speedfreaks, junkies—there is one overriding consideration, one common denominatorthat must permeate our thinking and our actions—they are our children.My final question : what will you do to help them?Addendum(Commissioner Jones' testimony was drafted prior to President Nixon's programannouncement and prior to the release of New York's confidential survey.The addendum contains comments on both. The survey has been approved forrelease on June 24.).iTOiPRESIDENT NIXON'S PROGRAMNew York State is naturally most encouraged by the President's response tothis national emergency, by his declaration of purpose, by his commitment ofresources, and especially by his recognition of the need for a proportionate andbalanced program.There are those who would take satisfaction in observing that PresidentNixon has agreed with them that the existing Federal effort is insufficient. We