Commissioner POMERLEAU. President Carter, in his state of the Union message, covered it rather well in his interest in having this Government work cooperatively with other countries in this problem and then, of course, there were visitations and there have been recently visitations by-well, actually, Mrs. Carter, both to Colombia and Ecuador, and reflecting the concerns of the President.

Although I would not disagree with you, there is a gap now between the President and what gets said by others; and I agree with you that it needs to be said at different levels also.

Senator BIDEN. I think you and your organization have brought us a long way; as have all of the witnesses who testified here today, toward a pretty uniform consensus that now exists and which I do not believe existed 5 or 6 years ago. We now know that we must divide the problem into different areas; source, interdiction, and what happens at the local level.

Up to now we have been going through some growing pains. Now, all the knowledgeable persons seem to be at least of the general opinion that on a broad scale, those three areas are the areas of concentration. And, possibly the most important in terms of stemming the problem, is the source-country problem.

Commissioner POMERLEAU. We would like to commence there, Sen

ator.

Senator BIDEN. Right.

Now that you have all brought this into focus we must go further. What needs to be done is that it must be brought into sharper focus by the policymakers; and that is really what I am trying to say.

At any rate, you have been most generous with your time, not only here today, but over the past 10 or 12 years in this area, and the people of Baltimore are to be complimented for lending you to the Nation as they do.

I am not being sarcastic about that; because I am aware of how much time it takes out of your day-to-day operations. You must have competent people who work for you back home.

Commissioner POMERLEAU. I do. Very competent, or I would have to be there taking care of the store.

Senator BIDEN. Well, thank you; and I look forward to continuing working with you.

Commissioner POMERLEAU. Thank you, Senator.

Senator BIDEN. I am sure it will come as no source of disappointment to the reporter that the hearing is now ended for the day.

We will reconvene on Thursday to discuss the international aspects of the problem.

Thank you.

[Whereupon, at 3:40 p.m., the subcommittee adjourned.]

DRUG CONTROL PROGRAM
OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1979

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE,
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:25 a.m. in room 5110, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr., presiding.

Present: Senator Biden.

Also present: Michael Gelacak, staff director; Mark Gitenstein, chief counsel; Kathy Zebrowski, counsel; Michael Fay, counsel; and Edna Panaccione, chief clerk.

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BIDEN

Senator BIDEN. The meeting will come to order.

Today we continue hearings begun earlier this week intended to introduce the subcommittee to the scope of Federal drug control efforts and efforts in the House and the Senate to oversee activities in the executive branch.

Our initial day focused upon the domestic aspects of the problem. On the basis of hearing from representatives of the White House, the Justice Department, DEA, and local law enforcement, I came away with one fundamental question, which I intend to pursue at future hearings.

That question is whether the Federal Government really has a meaningful strategy for controlling drugs.

We have a vaguely worded "national strategy" but I have serious doubts whether it has been translated into specific directives that have any real meaning to agents in the field, or resulted in the kind of measurable goals that would be helpful to Congress and the American people.

Today we turn to the even more vexing question raised by the foreign aspect of the drug problem. Based on the prepared statements I have read, I can see that my concerns will fall into the two basic areas of action and diplomacy.

On the action level, that is the qualified law enforcement effortsCIA and DEA abroad-the basic question is one of coordination and cooperation.

Do the CIA and the DEA share their intelligence related to narcotics?

Are they stumbling over each other out there?
Are they jeopardizing each other's operations?

Does anyone outside these agencies either at Foggy Bottom or at the ambassadorial level know what they're doing day to day?

On the diplomatic level, I see the problem as being the exceedingly difficult question of how we balance the national security need of preserving smooth relations with foreign nations and at the same time enforcing our domestic laws.

I can see two basic issues on the front burner. One is the so-called Percy amendment and the other is the Mansfield amendment.

But as those in the diplomatic sphere know, those are only the tip of the iceberg for the kinds of problem that you face in this field abroad. I intend to use my position on the Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee to work on both sets of problems and feel that the education that I will receive through these and subsequent days of hearings are of vital importance.

It is entirely appropriate that we open today's hearings with two Members of the House who probably have the greatest expertise on not only the foreign aspects of narcotics trafficking, but on the whole drug problem.

No other Members of the Congress have given so much of their time and energy-indeed risked their lives-in pursuit of answers to the drug dilemma.

It is a pleasure to welcome the chairman and the ranking member of the House Select Committee on Narcotics, Mr. Lester Wolff and Mr. Thomas Railsback.

Our first witness is the Honorable Lester L. Wolff, and the next witness is the Honorable Thomas Railsback. Will both gentlemen please take the table.

I apologize for the delay. We have a slight problem. The Democratic Caucus is trying to figure out what to do about the budget deficit and tax cuts and a few other other things, and I am deeply involved in that.

Admiral Turner is testifying before the Intelligence Committee, of which I am a member. It has been a very busy day. I have delayed you half an hour. I know you gentlemen are equally as busy.

I would like to make one brief introductory comment. I do not know anyone in the entire U.S. Congress who knows more about the subiect of narcotics than Lester Wolff or Tom Railsback who accompanies him. Lester, you went all the way to Southeast Asia and did not get hurt, and came back to the United States and ended up being injured in an automobile accident.

Representative WOLFF. They will get you in the end.
Senator BIDEN. That is right.

I look forward to hearing what you have to say, and again, I apologize.

Representative Wolff?

STATEMENTS OF CONGRESSMEN WOLFF AND RAILSBACK

Representative WOLFF. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity of appearing before this committee.

I must say I apologize for not having the prepared statement before you, but because of the situation I find myself in physically, it has proven very difficult to get forces together in order to do the mechanical work that has been necessary here.

Senator BIDEN. I can understand that.

Representative WOLFF. The select committee, which I chair, was established through the efforts of many of our colleagues in the House, including Mr. Peter Rodino of New Jersey, Mr. Morgan Murphy of Illinois, Mr. Charles Rangel of New York, Mr. Benjamin Gilman of New York, myself, and many others who, prior to the creation of the select committee in 1976, were concerned for many years with the problems of drug abuse prevention and control. Investigations into this issue clearly indicated a need for a committee that could focus its attention in a comprehensive manner on the complex problems of drug abuse prevention and control, interdicting narcotics trafficking, eradicating the illicit production of narcotics at the source, educating citizens throughout the world regarding the dangers of drug abuse, and in treating and rehabilitating those individuals who have become dependent upon or addicted to drugs.

During that period of time we saw, firsthand, the ravages of narcotics addiction in the United States and the extensive increase in the production of opium and marihuana in Mexico. We traveled to Southeast Asia and saw the large opium supply market that existed in the Golden Triangle of Laos, Burma, and Thailand, which contributed to the addiction of many of our soldiers in Vietnam. We saw at the Federal level that there was a plethora of agencies attempting to prevent and control drug abuse, but these efforts were being carried out on a fragmented basis. There was no overall comprehensive, coordinated national strategy, regardless of the efforts of several administrations to try to come to grips with this complex and difficult problem. There are as many as 100 different departments, agencies, and bureaus that have been involved in this problem throughout several administrations.

In fact, I might interpolate that several past administrations have found that this was a very sexy issue to address and used this in a political sense. And I find that it was a parking place for political appointees who later were found to be less than desirable in government. Our objective was to bring some kind of order to what was a fragmented, duplicative, ineffective effort which for the most part was more rhetoric than action. We have been I think successful in that

area.

I know that your committee and other committees of the Senate have addressed themselves to this problem as well, but ours is not and has not been a legislative committee; it is advisory and investigative. Our hope is to effectively do our job and then pass out of existence,

61-538 O - 80 - 7

leaving continuing activity to the Judiciary, Health and Foreign Affairs Committees, with overall oversight in a joint House-Senate committee.

The cost of drug abuse to this Nation is astronomical. In drug traffic alone, it is in the neighborhood of $56 billion, and no one can really estimate the cost of drug-related crime and its social implications. Yet our own effort to combat this "war" on drug abuse amounts to about $868 million.

Throughout the last 3 years we have seen the need to focus attention on raising the consciousness of the public to the dangers of drug abuse and to encourage other governments and international organizations to develop a similar plan.

But let us look to what the real root causes are of the problems of drug abuse, Mr. Chairman. We have asked ourselves this question many times. There are no simplistic answers to this complex problem. It involves the individual's ability to cope with the stress and strain of the everyday economic and social pressures.

We find that for a variety of complex and psychological reasons the individual gravitates to drugs in an effort to escape the pressures that he is undergoing. Of course, as we know, these modes of escape only mask the problem. They do nothing to remove it. As a result that individual draws himself and frequently those close to him into psychological quicksand in which he eventually drowns, unless professional help

is obtained.

All this, Mr. Chairman, again is highly complex.

Our select committee has found that in order to attack the problem of preventing and controlling drug abuse, this Nation as well as the entire international community must act to literally wage war on this scourge which now affects all mankind. This problem is not solely one affecting the United States. We find those nations that produce or act as transit countries for opium, heroin, marihuana, and cocaine are themselves now facing the problem of addiction among their citizens.

We found in our hearings and through our travels that 400,000 to 600,000 addicts exist in Iran, that Pakistan, Thailand, and Burma have heavy drug addiction problems; that affluent societies as well as the poor nations suffer this problem. Europe, which once seemed immune, today is experiencing the similar tortuous convulsions of drug abuse we experienced in the sixties. In fact, only recently England, which set up the so-called British system to combat this problem, has come to us because the problem has grown far beyond their ability to handle it.

So therefore our own government must devise a comprehensive coordinated national strategy to prevent and control drug abuse. That in itself is a difficult and complex task requiring a tremendous amount of skill and dedication by all citizens throughout this Nation, including our government agencies.

We on the select committee have attempted to focus attention in our hearings, reports, and our field investigations, to develop a sense of urgency regarding this problem, which has become an epidemic not only in this country but throughout the world.

There are four key ingredients to meet this problem:

First, we must develop a comprehensive, coordinated strategy na