Drug Policy Foundation: 'Choose Health, Not War'
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February 1993
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The Washington, D.C.-based Drug Policy Foundation (DPF) issued a 31-page
report urging incoming President Bill Clinton revamp drug policy to be health-based,
rather than law-enforcement oriented (The Drug Policy Foundation, Choose
Health, Not War: Drug Policy in Transition, 1/14/93).
Among DPF's specific recommendations to the new President:
- Reverse the federal drug budget from its current 70% law enforcement
focus to 70% for prevention and treatment, which now receives only 30%.
- Relocate the Office of National Drug Control Policy to the Department
of Health and Human Services to symbolize that drug policy should be public-health
oriented, rather than law-enforcement oriented.
- Eliminate waste and duplication in the antidrug bureaucracy by cutting
or shifting the roles of various agencies involved in antidrug activities,
in the process saving $2 billion annually.
- Make AIDS prevention and treatment a top priority, supporting needle
exchange and permitting AIDS patients to use marijuana medicinally to combat
cachexia and nausea where indicated.
- Drastically scale back interdiction, which now costs $3 billion
annually but has repeatedly been shown to have only marginal impact on
the street price/availability of drugs.
- Appoint a reform-oriented commission to thoroughly reexamine U.S. drug
control strategies.
For further information contact the Drug Policy Foundation, 4455 Connecticut
Avenue, N.W., Suite B-500, Washington, D.C. 20008-2302, (202) 537-5005.