107th Congress

Summary of "Treatment, Education and Prevention: Adding to the Arsenal in the War on Drugs" -- Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee -- March 14, 2001

Members Present:

Senators Orrin C. Hatch (R-UT), Chairman; Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), Ranking; Joseph R. Binder (D-DE), Mike DeWine (R-OH); and Richard J. Durbin (D-IL).

Witnesses:

Panel I: Dr. Alan I. Leshner, Director, NIDA; Donnie Marshall, Administrator, Drug Enforcement Agency; and Paul Warner, U.S. Attorney of Salt Lake City, UT.

Panel II: Dr. Robert DuPont, former Director of NIDA and White House Drug Czar; Carroll O'Conner, actor and drug prevention and treatment advocate; Edyie Hewitt, former Director, Vermont Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health; A. James Walton, Commissioner, Department of Public Safety; and Debra Walcutt, a recovering drug addicted youth.

Summary:

After welcoming and thanking the panelists, Senator Hatch gave his opening statement. In it, the Senator stressed the "vital role of drug prevention and treatment in our nation's comprehensive drug control policy." He went on to describe some of the goals of S. 304, the Drug Education, Prevention and Treatment Act of 2001, a bill that the Senator introduced with several co-sponsors from his committee. Along with increasing penalties for drug crimes involving minors and the expansion of drug court and education efforts, the bill would also provide additional authorization and funding for NIDA's Clinical Trials Network. Senator Hatch recognized that there was "no magical or simple" answer to the drug problem, but that redoubling efforts to understand the nature of drug abuse was an important step. Senator Leahy echoed these sentiments in his opening remarks, and emphasized the need for a three-pronged approach to the drug issue: treatment, prevention and law enforcement.

In giving their opening remarks, Administrator Marshall and Mr. Warner also stressed the need for a "holistic" approach to combating drugs in this country. Mr. Marshall pointed out that successful efforts from the law enforcement side were dependent upon the effectiveness of both prevention and treatment. However, he indicated he believed that in the world of drug abuse, supply was capable of driving demand. Mr. Warner testified that from his experience, there often is just not enough treatment available for those in and out of the correctional environment. Senator Hatch asked Warner and Marshall about their thoughts regarding the recent film "Traffic," a movie depicting drug trafficking. Both said that they found the film to be very realistic but expressed disappointment that the film seemed to depict the futility of the "war on drugs." Mr. Marshall commented that treatment alone is not the solution to the problem.

Dr. Leshner testified about the importance of drug treatment and prevention research. It was encouraging, he noted that "science, rather than ideology or intuition is beginning to drive the national discourse on these issues." He went on to point to an article recently published in JAMA that indicates success rates for drug treatment are on par with those for other chronic diseases, such as asthma, hypertension, and diabetes. However, Dr. Leshner also testified that it was important that we must not settle for "just anything called treatment," but rather treatment needs to be comprehensive and science-based and attend to the whole person and not just the drug use.

During the Q&A period after his testimony, Senator Leahy asked Dr. Leshner what the science has shown us regarding the success rates of drug treatment in prisons. Dr. Leshner responded that around 70 percent of the untreated addicts released from prison will be rearrested within a year. However, those inmates who have gone through treatment and aftercare have only a 30 percent recidivism rate. Senator Durbin pointed out that only 3.1 billion dollars is spent on drug treatment while over 9 billion dollars is spent annually for drug-related law enforcement. He asked Dr. Leshner if he thought this was appropriate. Dr. Leshner responded that he did not think the situation should be seen as pitting public health versus public safety-rather, the need for a comprehensive approach was the key.

Dr. Leshner was asked by Senator Hatch to give his opinion on the recent Washington Post editorial written by Joseph Califano, former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, that proposed creating a new National Institute on Addiction. AccORDing to former Secretary Califano, such an entity would combine, "....the current fragmented institutes on drug abuse (illegal drugs and nicotine) and alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Such a combination would strengthen our research efforts and provide a better return for our tax dollars." In response to Senator Hatch, Dr. Leshner discussed the success NIDA has had in its collaboration with NIAAA, as well as SAMHSA. Senator Hatch will ask NIDA to provide comments to S. 304, a bipartisan bill he is sponsoring with Senators Leahy, Biden, Dewine, and Strom Thurmond (R-SC), to reduce illegal drug use and trafficking and to help provide appropriate drug education, prevention and treatment programs.

On the second panel, Dr. Dupont testified that research shows that over the last few decades there has been a decline in the number of users of addictive drug, as well as the amount of dollars spent by users on illegal drugs. Dr. Dupont said that there has not been a failure of our efforts. He discussed "the gateway" theory of drug use-from the use of tobacco/nicotine products and alcohol to the correlation to later use of marijuana and harder illegal drugs. Dr. Dupont supports S. 304 as the right approach to the problem. The other witnesses offered harrowing and heartfelt testimony on the enormous personal toll exacted by the use of drugs on individuals, families and communities.

Senator Hatch concluded the hearing remarking that he will ask the witnesses for comments on S. 304.

Prepared by Linwood Corbett/OLPA