DEA Press Release
by Thomas A. Constantine
Having spent 35 years in law enforcement, most of it in the New York State Police, and now
as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, I have seen and heard first-hand
the frustration of people fed up with crime, violence and drugs.
American life in many communities no longer resembles the quiet peace of our childhoods.
Drugs have degraded the quality of life so many of us have worked so hard to improve. Yet
despite my ability to understand, and despite years of work to eradicate crime, violence
and drugs, I am baffled by the cyclical calls for the legalization of drugs according to
proponents, the answer to our problems. The latest entry in the legalization debate was
the irresponsible and inaccurate special America’s War on Drugs: Searching for
Solutions” aired on ABC recently, which pretended to be an objective look at
alternatives to our current drug policies.
What ABC did not take into account was that the overwhelming majority of Americans are
unequivocally opposed to legalizing drugs. They understand that many crimes are committed
by people using drugs not to support their habit, but because drugs exacerbate the
user’s criminal nature. The majority of Americans understand that our crime problem
will get worse, not better, if drugs were more widely available and socially acceptable.
They point to problems currently caused by alcohol violence, absenteeism, enormous
health-related costs. And the great majority of Americans do not want drug users drawn to
their communities in search of cheap, plentiful drugs doled out in cafes or public parks.
Why does the idea of legalization appear and reappear when there is so little support for
such a notion? Some proponents of legalization are seeking to normalize the behavior of
drug-taking, and many of them are people who use, or have used, drugs with little
significant adverse impact. Many proponents are wealthy members of the elite who live in
the suburbs and have never seen the damage that drugs and violence have wrought on poor
communities, and for whom legalization is a abstract concept.
Let’s ask proponents some of the hard questions that arise from their simplistic
proposal. Would we legalize all drugs--cocaine, heroin, and LSD, as well as marijuana? Who
could obtain these drugs--only adults? Who would distribute these drugs--private
companies, doctors or the government? Should the inner city be the central distribution
point, or should we have drug supermarkets in Scarsdale, Chevy Chase and the Main Line?
How much are we willing to pay to address the costs of increased drug use? How will we
deal with the black market that will surely be created to satisfy the need for cheaper,
purer drugs? And when the legalizers answer all these questions, ask them this: Can we set
up a pilot legalization program on your block?
Our national and international efforts to reduce the supply and use of drugs have a long
way to go. There are no easy answers, no quick fixes. A single television special
won’t solve our drug problem. It took us 25 years to get to this point in our current
wave of drug use, and it will take us a little longer to address it. We have made
significant gains in reducing drug use: The 1993 Household Survey released last summer
indicated unequivocally that drug use declined significantly from 1979 to 1993. Success
will not happen overnight, but we know what works; a constant, unflagging multi-faceted
effort to dismantle drug trafficking networks, educating our population about the dangers
of drugs and ensuring certain sanctions against drug trafficking and use.
Legalizing drugs is not a viable answer or a rational policy; it is surrender.
Thomas A. Constantine is Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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