|
|
|
|
|
|
Resources |
|
|
|
How Do We Solve the Drug Problem?
| Article
# : |
11522 |
|
|
Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
|
| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1986 |
4,111 Words |
| Author
: |
Edward Koch, Ernest van den Haag, Roy Childs, Rachel Ehrenfeld
|
Let the Punishment Fit the Crime
by Edward Koch
I only know of one way to deal with the drug problem. It is a four-part program. I would hope that people would support all four parts, but if you can only support some, support some.
The first part is that the armed forces have to be given the mission of interdicting drugs before they come into the country. Once they come into the country there is very little that local authorities can do, because of the profit incentive. There is so much money to be made that people will risk jail. Even though over the last 2½ years [New York City] Police Commissioner Ben Ward has arrested over 50,000 drug pushers, it hasn't cut down drug traffic at all [but only] driven it into the buildings as opposed to being on the streets.
So you have to interdict it before it comes into this country, and regrettably the armed forces do not want that mission. They should be mandated to take that mission by the Congress, but I haven't received much support there.
We did get 500 Coast Guardsmen authorized by way of an increase to put them on naval ships to do a little interdicting, but it's not adequate. It's just a halfway step, but it's better than it was before.
The second thing is that the federal government should take exclusive jurisdiction of all drug-pushing arrests and prosecutions. At this moment, they only take
... (1999 of 23753 Characters)
Read Full Article
|
|
