NCJ Number
176120
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This is an interview with Carlo Boccia, Special Agent in Charge, New York Field Division, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), concerning the United States' war on drugs.
Abstract
Mr. Boccia claims that law enforcement efforts have had some successes, but efforts to remove assets and profits and to reduce the demand for drugs have not been as successful. He also discusses the link between drugs and violence, a link involving individual violence resulting from drugs' effects on people up through organizational violence coincident with drug trafficking. Mr. Boccia also discusses the cyclical nature of drug use. For example, as people learn of the dangers of heroin, many switch to cocaine. As a generation grew up with no knowledge of heroin's dangers, they began switching back to the drug. Because drug education programs such as DARE have been successful, they must be continued so new generations will benefit from them. With regard to legalizing drugs, Mr. Boccia discusses several factors behind the failure of attempts in that area: while they help cut down drug-related criminal activities, they result in increased drug use and increased numbers of drug users. Countries that have experimented with decriminalization/legalization have ended them because they were ineffective and expensive. Mr. Boccia emphasizes that anti-drug efforts must be targeted against entire organizations--sellers, users, manufacturers, traffickers and money-launderers--in coordinated efforts involving local, State, Federal and international law enforcement agencies. The interview included a film clip about Operation Dinero, a successful 1994 effort against the Cali drug cartel that involved the United States, Spain, Italy, and Great Britain.