Drug Czar Brown Resigns as Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Statement by Lee P. Brown Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy I have informed President Clinton of my decision to accept a position at Rice University in my adopted home town of Houston, Texas beginning January of next year. Leaving this job is difficult because it means ending my strong working relationship with Bill Clinton, who cares more, knows more and has done more about drugs than any president in history. It is also extremely difficult because I will not be working with my colleagues in the Cabinet, the dedicated and extremely capable staff at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the thousands of men and women in and out of Government who devote their lives to this critical issue. Leaving this job is also difficult because I love it. Yet I leave with the satisfaction that I have had the opportunity to accomplish much of what I set out to do two-and-a-half years ago: We have carried out our legislative mandate by successfully developing a national drug control strategy--a truly comprehensive inter-agency approach to fighting drugs through prevention, treatment, and enforcement. One of the greatest satisfactions for me has been the hammer blow dealt to the hierarchy of the Cali drug cartel. With the powerful support of the President and the resulting cooperation of previously unenthusiastic allies in South America, six of the seven top conspirators of the most powerful drug gang in the world were arrested, leaving their organization in disarray. We also have assisted in the dismantling of the Medellin cocaine cartel, one of the world's most vicious criminal organizations. And we shut down a major portion of the so-called air-bridge, the route followed by planes carrying cocaine between coca producing countries to cocaine processing countries. Plus, we have seen the destruction of more than two thousand hectares of coca plant in Bolivia. Regular, monthly cocaine use has dropped from 5.3 million Americans 10 years ago to a little more than one million in 1994, according to the Household Survey of Drug Abuse. In fact, use of all illegal drugs among adults is down across the country by more than fifty percent as compared to ten years ago, down from approximately 25 million regular users to about 12 million, with Americans spending 23 percent less on illegal drugs now than they did five years ago. Crimes of violence have come down dramatically at the same time as overall drug use. We are working on new ways to strengthen U.S. borders through our High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area programs. We have launched seven HIDTA's around the country which have helped bring down numerous money laundering operations and drug gangs and paved the way for the Miami indictments of the Cali cocaine cartel kingpins. Experts here at the Office of National Drug Control Policy and their colleagues around the nation continue to develop cutting-edge law enforcement technology critical to detecting and stopping the drug trade. From professional sports where I've challenged team owners not to reward and make heroes of drug using athletes, to high school sports where I've asked coaches to drug test their athletes as a strong message to the entire student body, I've pressed the no-drug-use message. I've tried to bring the attention of corporate leaders to the irresponsible and dangerous marketing of drug look-alike products, and some companies, like RC Cola, have now begun to make responsible changes. I have aggressively opposed the siren call for the legalization of drugs because it would invite to the table of self-destruction the enormous numbers of our young people for whom law is an appropriate and respected setter of the boundaries of behavior. Legalization would also overwhelm our hospital emergency rooms even further with crime, drug- related car accidents and overdose cases. It was satisfying to see earlier this week that 85 percent of the American people now stand in agreement, according to the new Gallup Poll. I am delighted to report to you that we have improved coordination of our drug task forces and intelligence gathering centers. In fact, inter- agency cooperation in the fight against drugs has never been so good and so effective. That is due, in large part, to the President's actions. He elevated my job to a Cabinet-level position. That makes it possible to sit with the Attorney-General to talk about drugs and law enforcement and community policing. It makes it possible to sit with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to take bold new actions on treatment and prevention. It makes it possible to work directly with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development concerning housing and drugs. It makes it possible to sit with the Secretary of Education and talk about schools and drugs, and it makes it possible to sit with the Secretaries of Defense and State and talk about interdiction, diplomacy and drugs. So, Bill Clinton for the first time, gave the necessary political muscle to my job, the development, coordination and implementation of a national drug strategy which last year carried with it a budget request of $14.6 billion. The President's strategy is on target because the federal government for the very first time in history is accentuating drug education, prevention and treatment in addition to our enforcement and international efforts. As a veteran cop, I have been able to explain to Congress that the most cost-effective way to keep addicts from returning to crime in the streets is to provide treatment. That approach not only reduces drug- related crime but saves society seven dollars in criminal justice and health costs for every dollar we spend on treatment. That isn't guesswork. We know it. And that solid knowledge helps fuel my biggest disappointment. We never received full funding from Congress for President Clinton's drug strategy. If we had gotten that money, I am telling you we would be able to reduce drug abuse by five percent every year. Just imagine what that would mean to cutting violent street crime, to rebuilding shattered communities and shattered lives. What has enraged me in recent months has been the new Congressional leadership's attempts to destroy the President's intelligent, comprehensive approach to fighting drugs. The proposed budget cuts would impose unnecessary suffering and even deaths and must be rescinded. In fact, my biggest disappointment is not having received the funding necessary to implement the President's comprehensive drug strategy--something the American people have told Gallup that they strongly support. What had been another great concern until recently, is the way many in our society abandoned the needs of our children, allowing the romanticizing of drugs to go unchallenged. Somewhere in 1991, probably in the midst of the war in the Persian Gulf, the anti-drug message of the late 1980's got lost in our culture. One powerful demonstration of that: Evening network TV newscasts virtually dropped their coverage of the drug issue. The disappearance of the message from the media left a vacuum which was quickly filled by music, movies and TV shows glamorizing drugs, drug users and drug dealers. Tragically, drugs became "cool" again in the minds of millions of our children because neither their parents, their schools, nor their churches were powerful enough to combat the steady beat of the media messages of "hip" self-destruction. So, today, while most of the other major trend lines in drug abuse are going down, teenage drug use is on a persistent climb. Some otherwise responsible media have been acting as though marijuana were harmless when we know that it is damaging, disorienting and connected to a frightening surge in hospital emergency room visits. I have called the entertainment industry to task over its glamorization of drugs and drug dealers and responsible leaders of that industry are actually making changes for the better. I believe that because the major media have begun taking my message seriously, we may soon see a reversal of that trend. For, we are NOT losing the battle. The alarming rise in teen drug use is a loud and painful wake-up call which must be heard by parents everywhere in our country, as well as by schools, businesses, government and religious institutions. In response to this problem, I created the first Action Plan for the Office of National Drug Control Policy working with all those segments of American life. Further, dramatic evidence of the desperate need for Congress to fully fund the President's comprehensive drug fighting strategy is found in the latest Pulse Check of National Trends in Drug Abuse. The quarterly Pulse Check is our best early warning and what it tells us is this: The number of teens and young adults using marijuana is continuing to grow. So-called "Club Drugs," used by young people in dance clubs, including Ketamine, MDMA, and LSD are popular among some middle and upper middle class youth. And some young adult upper middle class suburbanites are starting to inhale heroin in some areas of the nation. In addition, "Speed"--methamphetamine--is spreading beyond the Western and Southwestern regions into cities of the Northwest, the South, and the Mid- Atlantic. These are emerging trends. They are the latest red alerts to us. For parents, especially, and for the media and other institutions, these trends should further motivate an intelligent and consistent response to this threat. For those in Congress who say they are tough on crime but somehow manage to also propose draconian cuts in the drug fighting budget, I say, read the Pulse Check and drop your purely partisan political opposition to what we know can work. The Gallup Poll of America's attitude on illegal drugs released earlier this week shows that the voters are solidly in support of President Clinton's comprehensive strategy with its emphasis on education, treatment and enforcement. If the Congress wishes to truly represent the American people, it, too will join with us in a genuinely non-partisan, national crusade to save America's children from drugs and the violence associated with them. I now call on the nation's radio and tv networks and stations to continue to broadcast the public service announcements of our new Stay Drug Free! You Have the Power! campaign. You owe it to our children. And now is when they most need to hear and see that message. And finally, about the timing of my departure from the Administration: The fight against drugs has no finish line and I have left in-place a vigorous and dedicated team which works this struggle 24 hours-a-day. The Bible tells us that there is a time for every season, a time for every purpose under heaven. That is a summons to acceptance, to humility, to understanding that none of us is irreplaceable, that each of us has his time to play certain roles in life. My time as Director of Drug Policy is ending, my role as scholar--an old and comfortable one--is about to resume. Thank you.