
	     


                           THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                           February 9, 1994     


                            PRESS BRIEFING
                                  BY
       DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY, DR. LEE BROWN


                          The Briefing Room

2:24 P.M. EST


	     DR. BROWN:  Good afternoon.  This morning I was with the 
President and the Vice President over in Maryland to announce the 
administration's 1994 national drug control strategy.  As you know, 
this is the administration's first fully-developed strategy, and it 
deals on the interim strategy we released last September through my 
office, the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

	     This strategy includes the largest federal drug control 
budget ever, a record $13.2 billion -- a reflection not only on the 
high priority the President places on addressing the drug problem, 
but also, the grave threat drugs pose to our community, to our 
economy and, most important, to our children.  
	     
	     Our new strategy departs from previous strategies in 
several important respects.  The strategy places a new emphasis on 
treating chronic hard-core drug users who consume the bulk of drugs 
sold on the streets and fuel much of our violent crime.  The research 
tells us that treatment works and that a dollar spent on drug 
treatment is repaid seven-fold in the form of reduced public spending 
and increased productivity.  And so we're seeking $355 million in new 
spending for treatment of chronic hard-core drug users.

	     The strategy places a new emphasis on reducing the 
demand for drugs, particularly among young people.  And we're seeking 
a $191-million increase in funding for safe and drug-free school 
programs.  

	     The strategy proposes to make our community safer by 
adding new police to walk the beat, by expanding community policing 
and by promoting drug courts and boot camps.  And the strategy 
rejects the misguided notion of legalization of illegal drugs, and 
calls on every family to take new responsibility for their children; 
calls on our communities to stand up for common decency and against 
drugs and violence.

	     You have in your package something like this which gives 
you some more detailed information, charts, et cetera, but I'll be 
pleased to take your questions at this time.

	     Q	  Dr. Brown, could you respond to William Bennett's 
comments to the effect that this is misguided, that you're taking 
money from interdiction and putting it into treatment, and that that 
simply doesn't work?

	     DR. BROWN:  I would suspect Mr. Bennett has not seen our 
strategy because it was released today.  We're not taking money from 
interdiction.  Our belief is that supply and demand are equally 
important and, therefore, they should not be competing with each 
other.  Indeed, the monies that we are proposing for our treatment 
and prevent efforts are new money.  
	     

	     The President did direct, however, a change in our 
interdiction.  We do interdiction on our borders, keeping drugs from 
coming across our borders.  We'll continue to do that.  We're doing 
interdiction in what we call the transit zones, where the drugs are 
coming across the water.  That's where the President asked us to make 
a shift because the drug trafficking organizations, they have made a 
shift.  And, therefore, it's important for us to respond to the shift 
that they've made.  The shift calls for a controlled shift to go into 
the source countries and place a greater emphasis there in helping 
them deal with the problem at the source countries -- like going to 
the sources.  It's easier to stop it there.  It's easier for us on 
our borders if we can dry it up there.  
	     
	     So we're not competing between supply and demand.  Our 
request is for new funds for treatment and prevention.
	     
	     Q	  But you're going to be doing less in terms of the 
Coast Guard, less in terms of that interdiction effort, is that 
correct?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  The efforts will be appropriate for the 
threat that exists there at this point in time.  And the reason we 
call it a controlled shift is because we anticipate that the drug 
trafficking organizations will also change and, therefore, we have to 
have the resources to respond if they do change.
	     
	     Q	  Director Brown, can you be more specific on what 
the impact will be on the transit zones like South Florida?  And does 
it not at least raise the risk that drug traffickers will return --
bring their routes back around through those areas?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  It does raise the risk, and that's the 
reason we call it a controlled shift.  We will not move all of our 
assets from the transit zone.  But right now, the drug trafficking 
organizations have changed their strategy.  They're using not so much 
just the fly-overs like we've had before, but they're using more now, 
the commercial flights into the country and more maritime.  So we're 
going to change in response to their changes in strategy.  
	     
	     What we're doing right now we see as a better and 
smarter way of addressing the problem, where we're going to the 
source countries.  And we want to see as rapidly as possible the 
source countries and transit countries take on the drug trafficking, 
narcotic trafficking problems themselves.  We've seen that happen in 
Mexico.  So our efforts will be to support them in more than one way 
-- their interdiction efforts in the source countries and transit 
countries as well as carrying forth some of our other goals such as 
democracy, institution building and human rights concerns.  So drugs 
will be an equal partner with those concerns.  But we will maintain 
our flexibility.  If something -- if we see a strategy changes, we'll 
be prepared to change.

	     Q	  Dr. Brown, you're including money for community 
cops here, and that's one of the emphases in the administration's 
program.  Yet in New York City, the Mayor has raised questions about 
how well the community cops program has worked there.  Do you think 
there is something to his criticism and should we take a second, more 
skeptical look at the community cops idea?

	     DR. BROWN:  I think the community policing is a very 
solid and sound way of using police resources.  The Mayor's police 
commissioner is a strong advocate of community policing, and has been 
for years and years and he probably will continue to be.  

	     We have to understand that we're talking about a major 
transformation of an institution.  Community policing represents the 
only change we've ever seen in policing in America.  If we go back to 
when we first started policing, because of corruption and political 

interference there was a reform era that brought us to where we are 
today.  That's the only change we've had so far.  Now we see a quiet 
revolution in policing, where we're going to community policing as a 
second major change.  

	     It worked for me in Houston.  It worked for me when I 
was a police commissioner in New York City.  In fact, after one year 
in New York City, crime went down in every major category.  That had 
not happened in a 36-year  history of that department.  Community 
policing, I would predict, will become the policing style of policing 
in America, if not the free world.
	     
	     Q	  Dr. Brown, there was some talk about the new 
strategy helping 140,000 more people than before.  Do you have any 
idea what percentage that is of the total drug population and what 
percentage that is of the people in the past years that have been 
treated or helped to be treated in strategies?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  We estimate that the hard-core drug 
population is about 2.7 million people, about 600,000 of those would 
be heroin, and the rest would be the crack cocaine, cocaine-dependent 
people.  There is a gap right now of about 1.1 million people that 
could be benefitted from treatment.  The 140,000 include what we have 
in our budget, $355 million for treatment of the hard-core, plus 
funds in the crime control bill.  As the President has pointed out, 
we have to tie these two together, the crime strategy as well as the 
crime control bill.  That would close the gap by about 9 percent from 
those who need treatment and not receiving it right now.
	     
	     Q	  So this hasn't happened yet.  This is money that 
you need to get from the crime bill --
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  We have $350-million increase in the 
President's proposal to the Congress.  The rest would have to come 
when the crime bill is passed by the Congress.
	     
	     Q	  And you're saying that you think you'll be reaching 
140,000 out the 1.1 million that you're targeting, or should it be 
out of the 2.7 million?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  Out of the 1.1 million gap, people who could 
benefit from drug treatment that are not receiving it right now.  We 
might also add that the President's health care reform is extremely 
important.  When passed by Congress, that would ensure that in 
addition to everyone having guaranteed health care, everyone would 
have also treatment for substance abuse.  And that becomes extremely 
important.  It will also go a long way toward closing the gap.
	     
	     Q	  Just to clarify that number, of the 2.7 million 
hard-core users, does that mean that 1.6 million now have access to 
treatment and the 1.1 million don't and you're trying to reach that 
1.1 million; or the 1.7 million are just -- they're untreatable?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  It's not that they're untreatable.  The 
resources are not there to treat them.  So if we look at those who 
could benefit from treatment, we have a gap of 1.1 million.  The 
140,000 --
	     
	     Q	  Who are the 1.7 million?
	     
	     Q	  Where's the gap coming -- the gap from what?  I 
don't understand -- we don't understand what the gap is.  There's the 
gap of 1.1 million --
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  There are two steps.  Let me ask Mr. 
Carnavale explain the two sets of data from health and human 
services.
	     

	     MR. CARNAVALE:  We have two sets of data.  One, we have 
our own estimates of 2.7 million hard-core users.  These are cocaine 
and heroin users in the population.  HHS has its own estimates in 
terms of the number of people who could benefit from treatment.  
That's their term.  The 2.7 million that we have represents the total 
hard-core user population.  Now, within that 2.7 million, we don't 
know how many of those people may currently be in treatment.  HHS has 
no idea how many total hard-core users there are, but they have a 
sense of how many they can treat.  
	     
	     So between the two of us, we have independent methods, 
but we both accept the fact that we have an enormous treatment gap.  
We accept their estimate for purposes of the strategy -- that we have 
a gap of 1.1 million people who need to get into treatment.  And the 
current capacity of the system is about 1.4 million.  And they're 
estimating about 2.6 million, I believe, for the number of people who 
should get into treatment.
	     
	     Q	   Wait a second -- 
	     
	     MR. CARNAVALE:  Let me go back up on my notes here.  
(Laughter.)
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  There are two different data sets --
	     
	     MR. CARNAVALE:  The 2.7 million represents our estimate 
of hard-core users, cocaine and heroin.
	     
	     Q	  And you don't know how many of those are in 
treatment or not.
	     
	     MR. CARNAVALE:  We don't know at this point.  We're 
trying to come up with a population estimate.  No survey that 
currently exists comes up with a national estimate of hard-core use.
	     
	     Q	  Whose department's estimate is that? 
	     
	     MR. CARNAVALE:  That is our own estimate.  We worked 
with HHS -- at least their data sets -- to compile it.  
	     
	     Q	  Which department are you with?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  My office.
	     
	     MR. CARNAVALE:  Now, HHS has its own estimate of the 
number of people who could benefit from treatment.  They currently 
estimate -- I'm looking to my helper here -- 2.5 million people who 
could benefit from treatment.  Now, that estimate is based on a 
different methodology where they apply clinical criteria to the 
household survey on drug abuse and come up with people who have some 
kind of drug-related problem.  
	     
	     Now, their estimates when they go through this include a 
lot of marijuana users.  And we're still working with them to find 
out how to deal with that population, because most treatment 
providers tell us they don't actually get a lot of marijuana users in 
their treatment programs.

	     So our hard-core user number represents our best guess 
of the total universe of the cocaine and heroin users.  Their numbers 
represent the number of people who should get into the treatment 
system.

	     Q	  But why are you targeting only 1.1 million?  That's 
what's unclear.

	     MR. CARNAVALE:   That is the current estimate of the 
gap.  If we accept their method, we'd have an estimate of the 
treatment 

capacity and the number of people who could benefit from treatment.  
There's a gap of 1.1 million.

	     Q	  What do you mean by people who could benefit?

	     MR. CARNAVALE:  People who exhibit -- they define hard-
core use based on frequency of use, which is a tendency to use drugs 
at least weekly and who have exhibited some kind of behavior or 
psychological problems associated with that drug use.  So that's 
their definition applied against their household survey.

	     The problem with that survey, again, is that it tends 
not to count hard-core use.  It tends to miss a lot of hard-core 
users because they're not part of the household.

	     DR. BROWN:  So what it all boils down to if we take 
their information, they feel it's a 1.1 million gap between those who 
could benefit from treatment and those who are receiving it.

	     Q	  William Bennett also says studies show that only 
one out of four hard-core users who go into treatment actually come 
out rehabilitated and, therefore, it makes little sense to focus so 
much of your energies on the hard-core user.  Can you address that?

	     DR. BROWN:  We see drug addiction as a chronic relapsing 
disease.  Just as any other ailment receives treatment and may not be 
successful initially, the same thing is true with drug treatment.  We 
know -- I know personally that treatment does work.  I've had the 
chance to visit treatment facilities throughout this country.  I've 
had a chance to talk to people who have been drug addicts, who have 
gone through treatment programs and are now productive citizens.  In 
fact, at the event we had today, we had a person who had been in a 
facility for treatment who's now out leading a productive life.

	     Our position is certainly treatment does work, but it's 
not something that we just see as a one event in the lifetime of that 
person.  There also -- we have to also tie into treatment all the 
other aspects of that person's existence.  It may be job training, 
other aspects of aftercare, it may be problems in terms of 
transmittal diseases that the person may have.  So we look at the 
totality of the person and provide for those problems.  But we 
believe very strongly, based on our research and our knowledge, that 
indeed treatment does work.

	     Q	  So your strategy addresses those other problem?

	     DR. BROWN:  That is correct.  Our strategy looks at it 
in its totality.

	     Q	  Could you clarify the budget numbers again?  I 
think you said that the new request in the budget is $350 million  
additionally for treatment.  The remainder of the treatment funds are 
in the crime bill.  Does that mean the remainder of the treatment 
funds are in the prison treatment system?

	     DR. BROWN:  There's $355 million that we're requesting 
above and beyond what we have; and the rest would be in different 
places within the crime bill. 

	     Q	  But almost all of them -- in fact, it's a prison 
treatment?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  Is all of it prison treatment?

	     MR. CARNAVALE:  Yes, most of it would be in the prison 
system.


	     DR. BROWN:  The criminal justice system, which would 
mean people under supervision as well.

	     Q	  What about prison treatment in your budget?  How 
does that -- and treatment of people in the criminal justice system 
already?  How do you --

	     DR. BROWN:  Under existing policies, the treatment in 
the criminal justice system -- or, sorry, in the prisons, people who 
are incarcerated, are handled by the jurisdiction.  If it's a state 
prison, it's handled by the state.  If it's a local jail, it's 
handled by the local manager of the jail.

	     Q	  How much of your proposal is addressed to marijuana 
and interdiction of marijuana or treatment?  Did you break it down?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  No, we did not break it down, but our 
efforts are mandated to address all illicit drugs.  That includes 
marijuana, but it's not broken down.
	     
	     Q	  How much money do you really need to do the job?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  Have we figured that one out yet?  
(Laughter.)  I'm not sure we have a definitive answer for you.  What 
we would like to do is to have what the President's called for, 
that's treatment on demand.  Now, the health care reform package will 
go a long ways toward helping us address that.  We do believe even 
when we have treatment on demand -- I'm sorry, the health care reform 
package, which provides substance abuse treatment for all Americans, 
there still will be a need for our block grant, our public assistance 
to help deal with the hard-core drug use.  We also want to make sure 
that we have an effective prevention program.
	     
	     It's probably important to point out that when we look 
at the drug control policy, we are looking at more than just a line-
item on the budget that says narcotics.  We believe that the 100,000 
more police officers under community policing is drug control.  We 
believe that our enterprise zones is part of our drug control 
program.  We believe that health care reform is part of our drug 
control program.  The reason is because if we're going to really be 
successful in addressing the issue, we have to address the symptom as 
well as the underlying causes.  So drug control under this 
administration will be a fundamental part of our plans, policies and 
programs to address domestic problems in general.  
	     
	     Q	  I realize you are not wanting to abandon the 
interdiction net.  Would the net result of this shift of resources 
not mean a reduced federal presence at the border?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  No, when we talk about the control shift, we 
really talk about the transit zones, not our borders.  We'll continue 
an effort there.  In fact, you'll probably see an increase along our 
borders as a result of NAFTA.  We'll put more resources on borders.
	     
	     Q	  So you're going to reduce federal presence at the 
transit zones?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  There's a shift in resources at the transit 
zones.  Some of the shift has already taken place.  For example, 
there was a substantial cut from the Department of Defense by the 
Congress this year -- about $300 million.  That cut took place this 
fiscal year.  And so we're holding that level for fiscal year 1995.  
	     
	     We will remain -- will continue to have a presence in 
the transit zones.  We won't ever abandon that because, as I 
indicated earlier, it should be expected that the drug trafficking 
organizations will change their strategies just as they did with our 

strong presence in the transit zones.  So we'll have the capacity to 
respond when we see a change take place.  
	     
	     Q	  A couple of months ago when Dr. Elders made her 
comments about maybe drug legalization should be looked at, studied, 
and you and several other people said, no, that's the administration 
policy.  A lot of people, including Mr. Bennett, said that was the 
only thing they really heard about drug policy and that was -- and 
now you come out with a statement today.  Did they create a problem 
or has that created a problem for the administration because some 
people may still remember that that was the first thing --
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  The premise upon which your statement is 
based is not true.  The President has spoken out at least 85 times on 
drugs last year alone.  I was with him in Memphis where he gave two 
speeches.  One got covered, but he gave two speeches that day.  He 
and I even got out and walked the streets and talked to the people.  
We have been addressing it.  The President's resolve to address the 
drug problem is not questioned, evidenced by many things that are 
already taking place.
	     
	     For example, he elevated my position to a Cabinet level 
position, which I think goes a long ways in assisting us getting the 
resources we need to address the problem.  He issued an executive 
order which gave more authority to my office in dealing with budget   
issues of the some 50 different agencies involved in drug control at 
the federal level.  He issued a presidential directive to assist us 
in giving my office more authority in dealing with interdiction.  
	     
	     So we can go on and on, but the point is that the 
premise upon which the question is based is not true.  The President 
has demonstrated over and over again his resolve, even to the extent 
it was a major issue in his State of the Union message.
	     
	     Q	  Do you think you'll get all that you're requesting 
in the light that the Congress is saying let's get tough; the public 
is saying lock them up, throw the keys away?  Are you sure that the 
shift towards prevention instead of just punishment is going to fly 
on the Hill?
	     
	     DR. BROWN:  We are not going to be successful in dealing 
with the crime and the violence problem unless we deal with the drug 
problem, particularly the chronic hard-core addicted drug user.  They 
are the ones who commit a disproportionate amount of the crime.  I 
think most Americans see that connection.  They see clearly a 
connection between drugs, crime and violence.  They want something 
done.  They want the senseless crime and the violence to stop.  And 
therefore, they're supportive of the efforts to deal with the crime 
in a way that we have not -- or the drug problem -- in a way we have 
not done before.
	     
	     A big problem in the drug issue is the addict.  Unless 
you deal with the addict through treatment, you're not going to deal 
with the problem.  I think most people understand that.  As I talk to 
people in Congress, they understand it as well.  The fact that we 
have a crime control bill at the magnitude it is right now is because 
the American people have sent a very clear message.  They're sick and 
tired and fed up of crime and violence.  They know that there is a 
direct relationship between crime, violence and drugs.  
	     
	     I see it.  I don't know a family, as I travel throughout 
the country, I haven't seen a family yet that has not been touched by 
the drug problem in one way or another.  It's understood, and I'm 
very optimistic that the Congress will give the President what he's 
asking for in his drug control  strategy.

	     Q	  The main shift that the administration is promoting 
in this strategy is toward treatment and prevention, yet the event 

today took place in a jail.  Could you describe why a jail was chosen 
as the place?

	     DR. BROWN:  It also has a well-known, well-respected and 
a very -- and a model treatment program.  We believe in treatment 
within the criminal justice system.  If you arrest tens of thousands 
of people every year and the majority of them have a substance abuse 
problem, it makes good sense that you use the coercive power of the 
criminal justice system to get them into treatment.  It's also why we 
support drug courts and boot camps.  Again, getting people into 
treatment.  If we can get them into treatment, it makes a difference.  
People who are in treatment commit less crimes.  The longer they stay 
in treatment, the more likelihood of success.  So we're there because 
they represent a model of what can be done under the auspice of 
criminal justice correctional institution to deal with treatment.

	     Q	  What kind of difficulty do you have to deal with if 
you are trying to convince other countries to go closer together with 
you?  And how about the need to define and to implement kind of a 
worldwide strategy to push that kind of --

	     DR. BROWN:  Our country will continue to provide 
leadership worldwide because this is a global problem.  We will have 
a strategy for this hemisphere as well as working with other 
countries in developing strategies for their hemisphere, working 
through the United Nations.  We're working with the various 
organizations -- Organization of American States, United Nations and 
others -- in terms of developing regional strategies which will fold 
into a global, worldwide strategy.

	     I personally went to Latin America and visited Panama 
and Colombia and Bolivia and Peru.  And I did that because I think 
it's very important for one who's responsible for making public 
policy to see what goes on in those countries.  And our strategy will 
differ from one country to another.  I was very pleased with some of 
the progress that's being made there -- progress that has not been 
reported on in the last few years.

	     Colombia, for example, has probably demonstrated more 
political wield to address the drug problem than probably any other 
country, evident by the fact that they spend about 10 dollars for 
every dollar we provide them with.  Bolivia, under its new President, 
has developed a long-term plan to address the problem there.  We're 
still working with Peru in some of the things that need to be done 
there in terms of other problems, plus developing a long-term plan.  

	     But in addition to our efforts to change our 
interdiction efforts, we also want to continue to have leadership in 
addressing the problem because it is a global problem.

	     Thank you. 

                                 END2:54 P.M. EST

