Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

PREFACE

International narcotics production, trafficking and consumption in the Southeast Asia area cannot be understood simply by examining each country's activities. We no longer feel that the best method of analyzing the drug problem is through a country by country breakdown. A much more useful analysis can be made on a functional basis: production, refining, trafficking and consumption. Significant changes have occurred in Southeast Asia in each of these facets of narcotics traffic and abuse; consequently, current programs must be modified to respond to these changes. One cannot deal with the problems associated with heroin addiction in a constructive way without taking into account the source of the heroin and the pattern involved in its reaching the addict. Similarly we are aware that enforcement, without a complementary study of cuasative effect and a program of rehabilitation and treatment, is an incomplete effort. No final solution to the problem of drug abuse is possible until all facets have been addressed.

This report will deal with the issue of international narcotics control on a functional basis, and we will bring the information gathered from individuals in the various countries into the report at the appropriate point. A country by country statistical analysis concerning expenditures and enforcement efforts is found in the appendix.

Heroin addiction is certainly one of the major health and crime problems facing this country. Our hopes for turning the corner on this scourge have been dimmed in recent months with the resumption of poppy planting in Turkey and a massive influx of "brown heroin" from Mexico. Heroin addiction is no longer a problem confined to the ghettoes of our major cities or the affluent suburbs, but is a menace facing even the smallest towns of our nation. We can no longer focus our efforts on one major trafficking syndicate, organized crime, or one major route, because the heroin which ends up in the veins of our young people comes from a variety of areas, passes through diverse hands, and reaches the United States after flowing through a multiplicity of different channels. Even the "brown heroin" which is flooding the Western and Southwestern U.S. market is not restricted to poppies grown in Mexico, as was previously thought, but now includes substantial quantities of Asian opium. While some previously believed that our concern over the huge illicit crop grown in the Golden Triangle could be confined to its effect upon our military and civilian personnel in the area, this supposition is no longer valid.

Although it is difficult to pinpoint the origin of the opium which makes its way into the United States, we now know that a significant portion of American heroin has its source in the poppy fields of Asia. This is the central concern of this report. We will only refer to two recent events for documentation of the need for our increased concern with this area of origin. First, the arrest of a major trafficker who was based in the Northeastern United States who revealed that he was operating a syndicate that used former military personnel to transport heroin directly from Southeast Asia for sale in the United States. Second, the International Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association's lead article from their March publication directed attention to the heavy influx of Asian heroin. We quote from their report, "European officials have reported that heroin from Southeast Asia is flooding the European illicit drug market at an alarming rate. Federal officials are concerned that this increase in illicit traffic is spilling over into New York, where they estimate it may account for as much as 20 percent of the heroin used in New York."

As if it is not enough that heroin addiction is on the rise, or that there are a half-million addicts currently in the United States, half to two-thirds of the street crimes which are committed in the United States are considered, by law enforcement authorities, to be related to drug addiction. This translates into billions of dollars of property damage and the deaths of many addicts and their victims. In the Nassau County, N. Y., district of the chairman of this subcommittee, the number of deaths from heroin overdoses doubled in the last year. Statistics such as this demand that the Federal Government undertake decisive new initiatives in the area of narcotics control.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »