Asa Hutchinson: “I do believe this is a law enforcement issue. You look at the groups that are concerned about this, that support the…”

“I do believe this is a law enforcement issue. You look at the groups that are concerned about this, that support the Hutchinson-Bryant-Barr amendment: The National Sheriffs Association have endorsed this; the Fraternal Order of Police; the FBI Agents Association. None of these are attorneys. These are not attorneys. These are people who work with prosecutors who know what is needed in the war against drugs. The Federal Criminal Investigators Association, the National District Attorneys Association, who are state prosecutors, the DEA Administrator Tom Constantine, the Office of Drug Control Policy Director Barry McCaffrey, each one of these have written letters supporting this amendment that we are asking the Members to vote on because it is a law enforcement issue, and even though we have a great deal of sympathy and compassion for bad cases, bad cases can give us a bad precedent here. We have to be careful not to adopt bad policy because we are sorry for what has happened in the past. We have to adopt good policy, and the amendment that is being offered here my colleagues need to vote for because it will preserve a balance in our system. Six former attorneys general of the United States, both Democrat and Republican, have come out in opposition to the underlying bill that we are trying to strike. They have done that because this would jeopardize our fight in the war against drugs.”