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Drug
Czar
"Sends
a
Message"
to
the
Pentagon
Over
Anti-
Drug
Budget:
Military
Reluctant
To
Expand
Drug
War
Involvement
11/15/97
Retired four-star general and current Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey last
week publicly threatened the Pentagon that he would not "certify"
their 1999 budget unless $141 million was re-directed from other operations
to fight the Drug War. McCaffrey has statutory authority to carry out this
threat, but his ultimatum was not met with enthusiasm by officials at his
former agency.
Specifically, McCaffrey demanded the following:
- An increase to $150 million, from $75 million, to carry on the anti-drug
fight in the Andes, where U.S. and local officials are working together
to interdict traffic in cocaine.
- An increase to $162 million, from $132 million, to support the anti-drug
activities of the National Guard, which inspects goods and monitors traffic
on the Mexican border.
- An increase of $24 million for a program that trains Mexican officials
to locate and arrest drug traffickers and money launderers in the border
region.
- An increase of at least $12 million for a program that attempts to
intercept traffickers in the Caribbean basin, which includes southern Florida.
Kenneth Bacon, chief Pentagon spokesman called the amounts "excessive"
and disputed either the necessity or the wisdom of each of them, noting
that in some cases, the proposed increases would be greater than the military
could productively employ. Of particular interest is the $12 million that
McCaffrey wants to see go to the program in the Caribbean, currently under
the purview of Customs and the Coast Guard, where Bacon says there is "no
clear defense role."
An unidentified staff member at the Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP) of which McCaffrey is director, told the Los Angeles Times,
"We're doing this to make a point: that the director is serious about
his job."
[Source: LA Times, 11/7]
-- END --
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Issue #19, 11/15/97
NJ Needle Exchange Continues Legal Battle: Medical Necessity Defense Rejected By Judge | Virginia Pushes Envelope on Pain Control: Medical Society Calls For Greater Acceptance Of Narcotics | Marihuana The Forbidden Medicine: Revised and Expanded Edition of the Landmark Book by Grinspoon and Bakalar | Media Alert: Magazine Does Hatchet Job on San Francisco's Reform-Minded District Attorney | Events: The Reformer's Calendar Updated -- Events Coming Right Up! | Junior High Student Suspended for Supplying Cough Drop | Drug Czar "Sends a Message" to the Pentagon Over Anti- Drug Budget: Military Reluctant To Expand Drug War Involvement | Shultz And Friedman Tell California Cops "Drug War is a Dismal Failure" | Undercover Federal Narc Shoots Teen Holding Candy Bar | Consumption of (Legal) Alcohol Plunges | 18 Students Share Needle in Science Class | 51% of Canadians Favor Decriminalization of Marijuana | Clinton Removes Syria, Lebanon from List of Problem Drug Trafficking Nations | Rheumatoid Arthritis Sufferer Gets 9-Month Suspended Sentence in England | Colorado Governor Calls for Sentencing Reform: Prefers Alternatives to Incarceration and Educational Spending | Editorial: Youth are Victims of Drug War
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