Statement About Drug Abuse Law Enforcement

THE U.S. Customs agents with whom I met today at the International Bridge between Texas and Mexico are representative of the many thousands of dedicated Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials engaged in our total war against drug abuse all across this country--men and women to whom every American owes a debt of gratitude for their efforts to defeat the menace which is truly "public enemy number one."

Keeping heroin and all dangerous drugs out of the United States is every bit as crucial as keeping out armed enemy invaders. In this effort, the Bureau of Customs is one of our first lines of defense. Its agents on all our coasts and borders do an important job comprised of equal parts of vigilance, exacting detail, tedium, and constant danger. Here in Laredo these men put their lives on the line daily, as do their Mexican counterparts across the border in Nuevo Laredo, in order to help save countless other lives from drug addiction.

My firsthand inspections of our drug abuse enforcement efforts, together with the continuous reports I am receiving on the subject, have convinced me that those responsible for making the arrests, the seizures, and the investigations are doing their part and more. But others farther up the chain of our criminal justice system must also do their part. For the sake of America's children and our young people, we simply cannot tolerate a weak link anywhere in that chain--and this is why I am so distressed by some indications that some judges may now have become such a weak link.

Sources ranging from news reports to letters from outraged citizens to personal appeals from the 40 young lawyers from the Office for Drug Abuse Law Enforcement with whom I recently met have called my attention to shocking instances of convicted heroin pushers who have been released onto the streets again rather than sentenced to the long prison terms they deserve. The rationale sometimes advanced for such action on a judge's part-that prison can warp a first offender's life forever, whereas probation or a very light sentence may rehabilitate him--is well intentioned. But I believe it is very mistaken. Above all else, society must be protected from these despicable narcotics profiteers who spread the drug plague for personal gain. Far too many heroin victims never get a second chance at life--and we must see to it that heroin pushers do not get an immediate second chance at dealing, either. Rather, they must get the punishment they deserve.

I have asked the Attorney General to launch a full and immediate investigation into this phase of the war on drugs. As soon as he presents his findings, I shall do whatever is necessary to halt this dangerous permissive trend.