Benjamin Gilman: “today the President released his long- awaited national strategy on drug control, which emphasizes treating and…”

“today the President released his long- awaited national strategy on drug control, which emphasizes treating and rehabilitating hardcore drug abusers while cutting back on broadscale overseas interdiction. Sadly, this policy is a signal to drug traffickers to expand their shipments to the United States. If the Colombian drug cartels were listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street would issue a buy signal for them after reading the President's new strategy. It stands to reason that if interdiction is allowed to lag, more drugs will come into the country and this will create more users. Because today's user becomes tomorrow's abuser, the very treatment programs on which the administration wants to focus eventually will be swamped. Mr. Speaker, many of us in the Congress have been in the front lines of our drug war for a long time and we have come to know what is essential. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. We have to fight the drug war on five major battlefields-- simultaneously reducing demand and supply through eradication and interdiction, enforcement, education, and treatment. We must go beyond the users and the abusers, and stop the pushers and producers to be effective in the battle against drugs and crime.”