Drug-running swamps U.S. agencies—report

Press, 10 January 1983, Page 8

Drug-running swamps U.S. agencies—report

NZPA Washington The Reagan Administration’s efforts to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States are having little impact because of inter-agency rivalries, double-counting of arrests, and failure to prosecute arrested traffickers, a Congressional watchdog agency says. The General Accounting Office, in a 94-page draft report given to President Ronald Reagan, said that only a few of the drugs entering the country are seized, despite the much-pub-licised efforts by the Administration. The G.A.O. recommended the establishment of a single authority to co-ordinate and direct efforts now spread among the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Customs Service, and the Coast Guard.

The draft report was presented to Mr Reagan by Senator Joseph Biden, who urged the President and other State sponsors to sign a bill passed by Congress that would establish a Cabinetlevel drug “czar.” The legislation has been opposed by the Justice Department, which has jurisdiction over the D.E.A. The Customs Service and Coast Guard are branches of the Treasury Department. Although co-operation among the agencies was increasing, the Accounting Office said, inter-agency conflict was built into the system because of their different priorities. The auditors said that the arrange-

ments also made Congressional oversight of drug enforcement efforts very difficult. “Special joint projects such as the task force the Reagan Administration established in south Florida last year have been the most effective approach, but they are expensive and may have only a limited long-term impact,” the office said.

The Congressional auditors estimated that the Florida task force had spent $62 million last year and noted that the Administration was budgeting $127 million for similar efforts around the nation.

But they noted that Coast Guard officials say $2 billion more would be required to stop 75 per cent of the marijuana entering the country from the Caribbean. Reducing the flow of heroin and cocaine by the same amount would require billions of dollars more, the auditors said.

More than 60 per cent of those arrested as a result of off-shore patrols by the Customs Service and the Coast Guard were never prosecuted in Federal courts, it said.

It also noted that the biggest cocaine seizure in history —1473 kg in March at Miami international airport — was counted twice, once each by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Customs Service.

Double-counting of drug seizures made it impossible to get an accurate account of the drugs seized, the General Accounting Office said.