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

v675api-eurs, in fact, that an increasing arnotinr of the heroin used by Americantroops in ^outli Vietnam and entering the United States, is produced from poppiesgrown not only in Burma, Laos, and Thailand, but also in parts of CommunistChina. ^" Thus, even as Turkey demonstrates increasing interest in control,the problem is developing a new focus. The proposal to ban legitimate crops is,therefore, based on a theoretical, static, and unrealistic concept of the source.In .short, enforcement policies in each of the countries producing iUegitimatesupplies are determined indei)eudently of the existence of legitimate supplieselsewhere. Indeed, as indicated, no legitimate opium is grown in the countriesproviding major supplies of illicit poppies. The U.S. import policy would thushave no effect upon these countries and tlieir appreciation of the signihcauceof the narcotics crisis. Congressmen Murphy and Steele, therefoi-e. logically concludethat, "The problem * * * is not the control of legal production, btit tofind ways to stop leakage of opium to the illegal market." "V. Crop substitution and .subsidies, police traiaiug, education and rehabilitationare viable means to ctirb heroin supply and demand.If a universal ban on licit opium cultivation is inappropriate and ineffective,then what is to be doue? There must, as many Congressmen and others haveurged, be incentives, and, indeetl. coercion where necessary to impress uiuni fitreigngovernments the necessity for controlling illicit opium productiim.There have been bills ^'' proposed to eliminate foreign aid to countries whichrefuse to exert controls over opium production. Senator Mondale has recent!pointed out that such a measure would have cost Turkey $100 million in Americanaid during the last 3 years, unless proper steps had been taken to eliminateillicit poppies from that country." In contrast, a ban on U.S. opium importswould liave negligible impact upon Turkey for no more than G percent ot ouropium requirements presently come from this country.A second, more positive program aimed at supply, and favored by this committee,would focus on crop substitution to provide the opium farmer witii arealistic, marketable alternative. Such an approach is already underway on asmall scale in Yugoslavia for example, and has proven successfu.. But money,even in the form of crop subsidies, must supplement any stich plan. And wiiilewe aiay decry the failure of other nations to contribute to such efforts, our ownfunds must not be withheld.Enforcement techniques abroad have been meager, and largely the product ofinclilTerent governments. Nevertheless, even at our own borders, U.S. offlciaisfail to detect over 95 percent of the heroin smuggled into this country. We, therefore,endorse this committee's recommendation to encourage the development ofimproved surveillance and detection techniques and devices, in the hope thatwe will police ourselves with the same effectiveness that we expect of othercountries.Supply S'hoiild not be the only focus of control. The United Nations Commissionon Narcotic Drugs has concluded that there is little chance of success inthe fight against drugs, unless illicit demand is controlled as well as supply.Iran is cited as an example. In 1955, Iran siiccessfully banned poppy growing,but adopted no measures to curb demand for opium by large numbers of traditionalopitim smokers. Unable to obtain opium, many of thse smokers then turnedto heroin supplied by outside sources. As a result, "the country now has severalhundreds of thousands of addicts, with a large proportion of heroin users," theCommission reports.^It is a drug demand crisis which we face. It is fed by depressants, stimulantsand hallucinogens, and poor social and economic conditions, as well as narcotics.To control Turkish opium is not to control heroin ; and. to control heroinis not to control drug addiction. Indeed, many synthetic compounds having highaddiction characteristics have been identified at the U.S. Public Health ServiceAddiction Research Center in Lexington, Ky. Two of these substances, ketobemidoneand dextromoramide, are illegal in the United States, but are manufacturedand available in Europe. Doubtless, addicts deprived of heroin will turnto other addictive substances which can be manufactured in clandestine laboratorieshere or abroad." Murphy and Steele, note 1, supra, at 19.M Id. at 32."See, e.g., H.R. 7821, introduced on April 29. 1971, and sponsored by CongressmenRange!, Hamilton, and Dellums.« Senator Walter F. Mondale, "Some of Our Friends Are Killing Us With Drugs" inthe Washington Post, Parade Magazine, at 1.3 (May 23, 1971 j." "U.N. Suggestions," note S, supra, at 3-4.