[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 93 (Friday, June 27, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6760-S6761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DODD (for himself and Mr. McCain):
  S.J. Res. 34. A joint resolution suspending the certification 
procedures under section 490(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1991 
in order to foster greater multilateral cooperation in international 
counternarcotics programs; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, today I send to the desk a joint resolution 
on behalf of myself and Senator John McCain which we believe will lead 
to more cooperative and effective efforts to meet the international 
threat posed by international drug trafficking.
  The resolution that we are introducing today calls upon the President 
to establish a high level, interdisciplinary task force under the 
direction of Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, Director of the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy, to develop a comprehensive strategy for 
dealing with the supply and demand side of the drug problem.
  It also urges the President to encourage other drug producing and 
transit countries to undertake similar efforts. Within a year's time it 
calls for an international summit to be held, at which time, the 
efforts of all the parties would be merged into a multilateral battle 
plan to engage the illegal drug trade on every front.
  In order to create the kind of international cooperation and mutual 
respect that must be present if this effort is to produce results, the 
resolution would also suspend the annual drug certification procedure 
for a period of 2 years, while efforts are ongoing to develop and 
implement a new strategy.
  As you know, Mr. President, the issue of how best to construct and 
implement an effective counter narcotics policy has been the subject of 
much debate in this Chamber, and I would add much disagreement.
  My intention in introducing this resolution today is to try to see if 
there is some way to end what has become a stale annual event that has 
not brought us any closer to mounting a credible effort to eliminate or 
even contain the international drug mafia.
  We all can agree that drugs are a problem--a big problem. We can 
agree as well that the international drug trade poses a direct threat 
to the United States and to international efforts to promote democracy, 
economic stability, human rights, and the rule of law throughout the 
world, but most especially in our own hemisphere.
  While the international impact is serious and of great concern, of 
even greater concern to me personally are effects it is having here at 
home. Today, approximately 12,800,000 Americans use illegal drugs, 
including 1,500,000 cocaine users, 600,000 heroin addicts, and 
9,800,000 smokers of marijuana. This menace isn't just confined to 
inner cities or the poor. Illegal drug use occurs among members of 
every ethnic and socioeconomic group in the United States.
  The human and economic costs are enormous: Drug related illness, 
death, and crime cost the United States approximately $67 billion in 
1996, including costs for lost productivity, premature death, and 
incarceration.
  This is an enormously lucrative business--drug trafficking generates 
estimated revenues of $400 billion annually.
  The United States has spent more than $25 billion for foreign 
interdictions and source country counter narcotics programs since 1981, 
and despite impressive seizures at the border, on the high seas, and in 
other countries, foreign drugs are cheaper and more readily available 
in the United States today than two decades ago.
  So, despite the fact that we have had this drug certification 
procedure in place since 1986--more than 10 years--drugs continue to 
pour into this country and to wreak havoc on our families and 
communities.
  I think it is time to be honest and admit our international drug 
strategy isn't working and that means the entire certification process. 
Nor are efforts to revise the certification process to make it easier, 
politically, for the U.S. Congress to stick a finger in the eye of 
other governments by unilaterally grading them, likely to materially 
improve the situation--especially when we are not prepared to subject 
ourselves to similar unilateral grading by others.
  Rather, I believe that we need to reach out to other governments who 
share our concerns about the threat that drugs pose to the very fabric 
of their societies and our own. It is arrogant to assume we are the 
only Nation that cares about such matters. We need to sit down and 
figure out what each of us can do better to make it harder for drug 
traffickers to ply their trade. It is in that spirit that I commend the 
resolution that Senator McCain and I are introducing today to our 
colleagues.
  Together, working collectively we can defeat the traffickers. But if 
we expend our energies playing the blame game, we are certainly not 
going to effectively address this threat.
  We aren't going to stop one additional teenager from becoming hooked 
on drugs, or one more citizen from being mugged outside his home by 
some drug crazed thief.
  I would urge my colleagues to give some thought and attention to our 
legislative initiative. We believe it is worthy of support.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the joint 
resolution be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the joint resolution was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                              S.J. Res. 34

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SUSPENSION OF DRUG CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The international drug trade poses a direct threat to 
     the United States and to international efforts to promote 
     democracy, economic stability, human rights, and the rule of 
     law.
       (2) The United States has a vital national interest in 
     combating the financial and other resources of the 
     multinational drug cartels, which resources threaten the 
     integrity of political and financial institutions both in the 
     United States and abroad.
       (3) Approximately 12,800,000 Americans use illegal drugs, 
     including 1,500,000 cocaine users, 600,000 heroin addicts, 
     and 9,800,000 marijuana users.
       (4) Illegal drug use occurs among members of every ethnic 
     and socioeconomic group in the United States.
       (5) Drug-related illness, death, and crime cost the United 
     States approximately $67,000,000,000 in 1996, including costs 
     for lost productivity, premature death, and incarceration.
       (6) Worldwide drug trafficking generates revenues estimated 
     at $400,000,000,000 annually.
       (7) The United States has spent more than $25,000,000,000 
     for drug interdiction and source country counternarcotics 
     programs since 1981, and despite impressive seizures at the 
     border, on the high seas, and in other countries, illegal 
     drugs from foreign sources are cheaper and more readily 
     available in the United States today than 20 years ago.
       (8) The 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 
     Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1988 
     Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and 
     Psychotropic Substances form the legal framework for 
     international drug control cooperation.
       (9) The United Nations International Drug Control Program, 
     the International Narcotics Control Board, and the 
     Organization of American States can play important roles in 
     facilitating the development and implementation of more 
     effective multilateral programs to combat both domestic and 
     international drug trafficking and consumption.
       (10) The annual certification process required by section 
     490 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2291j), 
     which has been in effect since 1986, has failed to foster 
     bilateral or multilateral cooperation with United States 
     counternarcotics programs because its provisions are vague 
     and inconsistently applied and fail to acknowledge that 
     United States narcotics programs have not been fully 
     effective in combating consumption or trafficking in illegal 
     drugs, and related crimes, in the United States.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) existing United States domestic and international 
     counternarcotics program have not reduced the supply of 
     illegal drugs or significantly reduced domestic consumption 
     of such drugs;
       (2) The President should appoint a high level task force of 
     foreign policy experts, law enforcement officials, and drug 
     specialists to develop a comprehensive program for addressing 
     domestic and international drug trafficking and drug 
     consumption and related crimes, with particular attention to 
     fashioning a multilateral framework for improving 
     international cooperation in combating illegal drug 
     trafficking, and should designate the Director of the Office 
     of National Drug Policy to chair the task force;

[[Page S6761]]

       (3) the President should call upon the heads of state of 
     major illicit drug producing countries, major drug transit 
     countries, and major money laundering countries to establish 
     similar high level task forces to work in coordination with 
     the United States; and
       (4) not later than one year after the date of enactment of 
     this Act, the President should call for the convening of an 
     international summit of all interested governments to be 
     hosted by the Organization of American States or another 
     international organization mutually agreed to by the parties, 
     for the purpose of reviewing the findings and recommendations 
     of the task forces referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) and 
     adopting a counternarcotics plan of action for each country.
       (c) Suspension of Drug Certification Process.--(1) Section 
     490 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2291j), 
     relating to annual certification procedures for assistance 
     for certain drug-producing and drug-transit countries, shall 
     not apply in 1998 and 1999.
       (2) The President may waive the applicability of that 
     section in 2000 if the President determines that the waiver 
     would facilitate the enhancement of the United States 
     international narcotics control programs.

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I join with my colleague and friend, 
Senator Dodd, in introducing a joint resolution calling on the 
President to take concrete steps to increase the level of international 
cooperation in combating the flow of narcotics into this country, and 
to lead America toward coming to grips with the domestic demand that is 
tearing this country apart while enriching the drug cartels of Latin 
America and our own organized crime groups.
  This legislation acknowledges the problems endemic in waging the war 
on drugs while domestic demand continues to remain high. It further 
recognizes the failure of numerous previous efforts at stemming the 
flow of illegal narcotics. It consequently expresses the sense of 
Congress that the President should appoint a high level task force, to 
be chaired by the Director of the Office of National Drug Policy, to 
establish a framework for improving international cooperation in these 
efforts. Finally, and of particular importance, it suspends for 2 years 
the process by which countries are certified as cooperating in the war 
on drug.
  The drug problem in this country dates at least as far back as the 
Civil War, when wounded soldiers were turned into morphine addicts as 
the only way to deaden the horrific pain caused from battle and 
disease. The problem grew to such an extent that President Nixon felt 
compelled to establish the Drug Enforcement Administration in order to 
better coordinate the antidrug effort. President Reagan assigned Vice 
President Bush to oversee a major escalation in the war on drugs, a war 
carried on at considerable monetary cost throughout the Bush 
administration. President Clinton, to his credit, appointed perhaps our 
finest ``drug czar'' in Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who has waged the drug 
war as valiantly as he led troops in combat during Desert Storm.
  And still, the flow of illegal narcotics continues virtually 
unimpeded. Record-breaking seizures serve mainly to remind us of how 
much more is getting through our porous borders undetected. Street 
prices alert us to the failure of our best efforts at putting a dent in 
the problem of drug trafficking. To the extent that one area, for 
example, cocaine, is tackled with any degree of success, another bigger 
problem--the resurgence of heroin abuse comes to mind--rises up in its 
place. Clearly, it is time to step back again and look more critically 
at every facet of the problem.
  I do not believe ``chicken-and-egg'' debates about which problem, 
supply or demand, should take higher priority serve any useful purpose. 
The bill we are offering today addresses both problems. Nor I believe 
the certification process has accomplished its intended goal any more 
than such processes ever really do irrespective of the subject matter. 
In fact, the decision by the White House to decertify Colombia, which 
has waged a valiant and costly--in both lives and treasure--struggle 
against extremely powerful and ruthless cartels while recertifying 
Mexico, whose law enforcement agencies are so rife with corruption that 
that country's equivalent of General McCaffrey was arrested for drug-
related crimes, illuminates all too well the impracticality of the 
current process.
  It is easy to argue that the drug problem has been studied to death. 
It has not, however, been examined from the perspective, and at the 
level, recommended in this resolution. If I believed for a second that 
this resolution represented just another attempt at studying the 
problem of drugs, I would not have attached my name to it. The 
recommended steps, however, combined with the suspension of the drug 
certification process, constitute a real and meaningful effort at 
focusing the Nation's attention on one of our most serious problems. 
Drugs are, in every sense of the word, a scourge upon our society. We 
must take a comprehensive, sober look at the scale of the problem and 
what realistically can be done about it. We must do this domestically 
and internationally. We must, once and for all, wage the war on drugs 
as though we intend to prevail. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate 
and the House of Representatives will support this legislation.

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