David Obey: “This motion would require the Committee on Appropriations to report a new supplemental bill that includes $262 million…”

“This motion would require the Committee on Appropriations to report a new supplemental bill that includes $262 million for the Office of National Drug Control Policy for purposes of distributing grants to State, local, or national organizations that provide substance abuse treatment and prevention services. The intention is to recognize that if the House is going to spend $1.3 billion for source-country control of cocaine, then we ought to include at least some funds for treatment services which, according to the Rand Corporation, are 23 times more effective. This motion recognizes that only 37 percent of the 5.5 million Americans in need of treatment can get it, and a vote for recommittal will reduce that treatment gap in all of our communities. If we want to destroy the drug traffickers, we should destroy their source of income. That is the best way to get at them. If we invest in drug treatment and drug prevention, we are destroying their source of income. That is the way to kill them. Vote for this motion.”