NCJ Number
128400
Editor(s)
M J Seng,
G J Bensinger
Date Published
1990
Length
76 pages
Annotation
Presentations at Loyola University's 1990 annual Symposium on Critical Issues in Criminal Justice emphasized that much of the task of developing and implementing drug reduction programs falls upon law enforcement.
Abstract
Symposium participants explored the extent of the drug problem in the United States and Federal, urban, and suburban law enforcement approaches to drug demand reduction. A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent challenged the myth that drug abuse is an urban ghetto problem, citing some statistics on drug use in the workplace. He noted that 5 percent of the nation's workers between 20 and 40 years of age are drug users. He also reviewed some of DEA's demand reduction strategies focusing particularly on programs aimed at curtailing drug use in the workplace and reducing the availability of drugs by disrupting the supply at the point of origin. A former director of the Chicago Police Department's Narcotics Unit defined demand reduction as law enforcement activities designed to reduce the demand for illicit drugs within a jurisdiction. He excluded from his definition such activities as education, counseling, and public relations. Another symposium participant emphasized the view that the role of law enforcement in drug demand reduction is to enforce the law, although he suggested that law enforcement's role includes education, prevention, and treatment. An official from the American Civil Liberties Union warned of the danger of overreacting to the drug problem, contending that the potential exists for using law enforcement powers indiscriminately in the current atmosphere of national hysteria over indiscriminately in the current atmosphere of national hysteria over the drug war. The Executive Director of Illinois' Department of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse discussed his State's treatment strategy to deal with the problem which reflects a diversified, client-specific approach.