    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [December 18, 1995]
    [Page 1904]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Memorandum on Federal Arrestee Drug Testing
    December 18, 1995

    Memorandum for the Attorney General

    Subject: Development of the Administration's Federal Arrestee Drug
    Testing Policy

        Illegal drugs plague our communities, causing despair and illness,
    and, most importantly, contributing significantly to unacceptable levels
    of crime and violence. More than half of all individuals brought into
    the Nation's criminal justice system have substance abuse problems. Too
    often, the same criminal drug users cycle through the court,
    corrections, and probation systems still hooked on drugs and still
    committing crimes to support their habit.
        We can and will continue to prosecute and convict these criminal
    drug users. Yet our criminal justice system must do more to try to
    reduce drug use. Across the country, employers have accepted their
    corporate responsibility to reduce the levels of drug use within their
    workplaces.
        So too, the agencies of our criminal justice system must do their
    part, giving criminal drug users powerful incentives to stay off drugs
    by putting a high price on continued drug use. These incentives--
    commonly referred to as ``coerced abstinence''--should be applied at the
    earliest possible stage in a person's interaction with the criminal
    justice system--following arrest.
        To ensure that we are doing all we can to break the cycle of drugs
    and crime, I am directing you to develop a universal policy providing
    for drug testing of all Federal arrestees before decisions are made on
    whether to release them into the community pending trial. I further
    direct that you establish a policy whereby Federal prosecutors will seek
    appropriate measures for arrestees who fail pretrial drug tests.
        The Federal criminal justice system should serve as a model for
    State criminal justice systems--where the majority of criminal cases are
    processed and the cycle of repeat drug-related offenders is most
    evident. Therefore, I am also directing you to take all appropriate
    steps to encourage States to adopt and implement the same policies that
    we are initiating at the Federal level.
        You should report to me in writing by March 31, 1996, on the
    specific steps you will take to implement this policy.

                                                          William J. Clinton