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every public-opinion poll I have seen recently, in Ohio as well as across the nation, the fight against illegal drugs is identified as the No. 1 problem facing our people.

A recent Federal study placed the adverse economic impact of illicit drugs at a minimum of $60 billion annually, and that's the floor, that's the minimum. Other studies, if you tie in some of the alcohol costs in particular, it may be as much as $176 billion a year.

I think it is difficult for me, at least in my own mind, to separate out the illegal problem from the legal drug problem, the legal drug problem being the problem of alcohol. If you look at the 1988 figures of 4,700 deaths from drug overdose from illegal drugs, and in that same year just on the highways of our country with the legal drug, alcohol, we had 24,000 alcohol-related deaths, the enormity of the problem of alcohol combined with illegal drugs becomes appar

ent.

So I have been trying to approach the whole problem across the board, and usually the alcohol is the drug of entry. It is the first drug that is used by our young people. I put copies of an article at the press table. I think we have enough copies, since our attendance this morning with the weather is not too great. There are probably copies for everyone.

I did not know this article in this morning's New York Times was going to be there. Dr. Weiss, who is staff director of the Governmental Affairs Committee, pointed it out to me this morning. I thought it was good enough that I had it reprinted. I want to read a couple of things out of it. It is by Joe Califano.

He talks about the general problem of addiction: "Addiction to alcohol and drugs, legal and illegal, crowds every nook and cranny of our nation." It goes on to the part I have marked down there to say this. Now, I will read this into the record.

"Addiction in America gives new meaning to the word 'awesome': 57 million Americans are hooked on cigarettes; 18 million are addicted to alcohol or abuse it; 21 million have tried cocaine; more than 1 million are hooked on crack; 7 million smoke marijuana at least once a week; as many as 1 million are hooked on heroin; 10 million abuse tranquilizers and other psychotherapeutic drugs; 1 million regularly use hallucinogens like LSD and PCP; and ice-smokeable speed and a likely candidate to succeed crack as the 1990's drug of the month-has already hooked thousands." We talk about these statistics, but it's not a matter of interdicting at our borders, these drugs are being produced within our own borders. It is not a matter of going to Columbia and stopping the inflow there. So I commend the reading of this to you. I hope you look at it. I think Joe Califano has a good point to be made.

I don't know that I'd go along necessarily with the idea that we need a separate Department of Addiction to deal with addiction, but as Public Health Enemy No. 1, we have a National Institute of Drug Abuse. We have to talk about this, and I want to talk to Joe when I get back, and I think this is an excellent article. It is in the New York Times this morning.

It is quite clear that the illegal drug trade makes us all poor, not just in terms of dollars and cents. We are poor as a Nation, when businessmen launder dirty drug money. And we are poor as a

State; as much as $8 billion a year are drained from the Ohio economy by illegal drugs. That came out of the Governor's Summit on Drugs the other day. And we are poor as a community when we must devote our local forces to fighting a surge of buildings being boarded up and families torn down.

We have never known an enemy quite like this. Let me quote a little bit from the Governor's summit last week. I will read these off very rapidly. I don't want to take all morning with my opening statement.

"Eighty-two percent of Ohioans see drug use as the most serious problem facing today's youth. Seventy-two percent of Ohioans feel that within the next 25 years the incidence of drug abuse will stay the same or get worse. Õhioans are divided on whether drug abusers should be jailed (47 percent) or treated (45 percent). Ohioans feel the best way to combat drugs is interdiction (36 percent), education/prevention (33 percent), treatment (17 percent).

"Sixty-eight percent are willing to have their taxes raised at least by $50 per year to contribute to the war on drugs. Ohioans are against legalization of drugs by a margin of four to one, and one in seven Ohioans admits to knowing at least one individual who regularly sells illegal drugs." I thought that was an amazing statistic. "At the same time, under use Ohioans have consistently ranked as one of the top states in the amount of prescription drugs consumed, amphetamines and methamphetamines. Abuse of prescription drugs accounts for 60 percent of drug-related emergency room visits in Ohio and 70 percent of all drug-related deaths." Those are startling figures. I won't go on with that. That came out of the Governor's Summit last week, but I would certainly hope you review that. They put out an excellent booklet that has a lot of information on it. They deserve a lot of credit for putting it togeth

er.

We have never known an enemy quite like this. It is an enemy which does not respect cultural, economic or racial differences. It is an equal-opportunity destroyer. Children as young as 12 years of age have been arrested in our Nation's capital for selling illegal drugs. Our senior citizen community contains a growing group of prescription drug abusers. According to our Justice Department, whites are just as likely to use illegal drugs as are minorities, and according to testimony by the Federal Bureau of Investigation before this Committee on September 21 of this year, persons in higher economic environments are just as inclined to be involved in illegal drugs as individuals with less income.

Women are a growing category of drug users. Pushers are targeting women in far greater numbers than ever before. But the most pitiful victims in this war, the casualties who are the most helpless and most vulnerable, are young people. From the babies born addicted to drugs to high school dropouts who push drugs on playgrounds, the drug scourge respects no barriers.

For perhaps the first time in our history the enemy has made a calculated effort to destroy our future by destroying our young people. From Portland, Maine, to Dayton, from Cleveland to Miami, young people are dropping out of school in alarming numbers, and all too often they leave school to pursue a get-rich-quick

drug scheme which results in their destroying themselves as well as their peers.

In 1986 Congress passed a drug bill designed to target federal assistance to cities and communities and sounded the call, "We are at war against drugs." The administration spent about half of what was appropriated after that. Is this a war in name only? Is this a popgun war? Are we to paraphrase the great general's statement about his description of war, and we could paraphrase this one, I guess, by saying, "War is heck." Remember the old statement, Speak softly and carry a big stick." Is this war on drugs, "Talk tough and wave a Q-tip"? That's about all we have done so far.

In 1988 and again this year Congress passed authorization and appropriation bills to fine tune the programs developed in 1986. We put money into education and treatment programs; education and prevention for those not yet addicted and treatment for those who desire it. More police and more prisons have been added for those who break our drug laws, but it's not enough by far yet. Not enough by far.

Then we crossed our fingers and hoped that our good intentions would translate into programs that work. And so hearings like today's are important opportunities for me, and for some of us who spend most of our time in Washington, to check our progress with those who are directly responsible for our communities' drug strategies: State and local officials. So it is a pleasure to be here this morning and to have you lead off.

Our first panel this morning will be the Honorable Richard Pfeiffer, State Senator, and Jan Michael Long, also State Senator, who have been very active in this whole drug scene, and Paul Pfeifer, who as I understand it, will chair the Conference Committee on Drug Legislation as it comes out. So we will hear from them this morning, and we appreciate very much your being with us this morning in spite of the weather outside, and, Richard, would you lead off this morning. The Honorable Richard Pfeiffer.

TESTIMONY OF HON. RICHARD C. PFEIFFER, JR., OHIO STATE SENATOR, COLUMBUS, OH

Senator PFEIFFER. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for the opportunity to testify before you, and I have sitting at my left my namesake, Senator Paul Pfeifer. Frequently people confuse Paul and Rick, and I say my name has three Fs and the P is silent, and Paul has two Fs and he pronounces the P. So I am Rick Pfeiffer from Columbus, and I appreciate being here to comment briefly, Mr. Chairman, about the subject matter of this Committee.

We have prepared and have submitted for the record a 3-page statement which I will not read.1 I would just simply like to make some summary comments which from my perspective I believe are very important.

I have participated with Senator Pfeifer across Ohio at a number of drug hearings, with the minority leader, who has also taken a lead on this in the Senate, Senator Harry Meshel and his staff, I have participated with him and discussed with the local law-en

1 See p. 117.

forcement people certain improvements we can make to Ohio statutes relative to combatting the illegal use of drugs.

But what I want to focus on is not the enforcement, not the incarceration issues. I want to focus on: Why do people use drugs? We would not have a drug problem unless we had drug users. I believe the statistics will bear out that the United States is the largest consumer of cocaine and its derivatives. Colombia could not sell what America refuses to buy. Why do Americans use drugs? Why is it that people turn to some conscience-altering substance as a way of life? I am not sure I can completely answer those questions, but let me try.

I think to a good measure people turn to alcohol or other drugs because of self-esteem problems. Perhaps it's a perception of life around them, perhaps it's a perception of failure or, "I just can't get anything done well."

I think what the Congress and what state legislatures must emphasize are the conditions that we structure in our communities. I think that we must not turn ourselves from the fundamental issues that government must do, and that is to provide and protect for its citizens. We must provide sound educational systems in our cities, we must provide sound medical care for those who cannot pay for medical care, and I think in that area we must include in medical care funds to treat people who are addicted to drugs.

The one thing that we heard in Senator Pfeifer's hearings frequently was, "My beds are full." Those words were spoken by directors of the not-for-profit free treatment facilities for indigents or persons who could not pay for drug treatment. We must provide, through medical care, care and treatment for those addicted with drugs.

Housing is also an important issue. The conditions of life are important. Here in Ohio we will continue to take the lead in the housing issue. The House, through Representative Verich, and the Senate, through the prime sponsorship of Senator Ray, will get us, hopefully, to adopt an amendment which will ask the people of Ohio to amend our state constitution to allow us to declare housing as a public purpose and thereby allow our political subdivisions to participate in a low-cost funding for housing.

We also must make sure that we have employment opportunities for our youth. When Senator Pfeifer and I visited a couple of high schools, a couple of comments we constantly got were: "I can make better money doing something on the streets than $3.35 an hour at McDonald's." I think we have to make sure that we have employment opportunities for our youth.

I would be critical this morning, Mr. Chairman, of an item in our local newspaper today, the Columbus Dispatch, an article, byline Roger Leod of Washington suggests that the White House is seeking less money to teach poor kids. It suggests that the White House is going to not fully fund Head Start, and I think if there is a proven program that came out of President Johnson's War on Poverty, Head Start was one of those proven programs.

The Ohio Legislature believes that it was a proven program. Senator Long, Senator Pfeifer and Senator Pfeiffer voted for a state budget which appropriates $19 million of state funds for Head Start. So as the state begins to assume part of the obligation for

the teaching of our poor kids in preschool studies, the Federal Government cannot be allowed to withdraw as the Federal Government has withdrawn in the housing industry.

So, Mr. Chairman, let me conclude by saying I believe you will find Ohio's legislature vigorous and sincere in its pursuit of the drug war. I think in that we cannot lose sight of the broader issues which relate to the conditions in our lives and in our communities. We cannot abandon our schools, we cannot abandon the agenda that includes health care and housing. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

Chairman GLENN. Thank you very much. We might as well have all the statements before we have some questions and a discussion period.

Senator Long.

TESTIMONY OF HON. JAN MICHAEL LONG, OHIO STATE

SENATOR, COLUMBUS, OH 1

Senator LONG. Thank you very much, Senator Glenn, for giving me the opportunity and inviting the three of us to appear before the Committee today to express our views on the drug war in Ohio and am also appreciative of the fact that you are here in Columbus to elicit our viewpoints on the issue.

I think it is important for us to understand that from the legislative aspect, that we must return to the communities and seek opinions of our local elected officials and so, I think, in order to win this drug war we have to go beyond the State House chambers, go beyond the congressional halls, so that we can formulate policy to combat this problem.

As a legislator representing a rural State senate district in southeastern and southern Ohio, I hope that perhaps I can provide a different perspective on the impact of the drug perspective than perhaps some of the other witnesses before you today. There is always a tendency to think that the drug war is a big-city problem. As the drug war unfolded this year, it became increasingly apparent that even rural Ohio is not secure from the problems of drug abuse.

In hearings that I participated in and chaired in September in my Senate district in Chillicothe and Ironton, I learned firsthand the particular problems. In both cities local officials told me that they strongly support more State funding for antidrug proposals and more emphasis on drug education. In fact, in Chillicothe, for example, Ross County Common Pleas Judge Valla Mowrey, Jr., said that the solution to the drug problem is starting with drug education at an early age in school.

In Ironton, former State representative Ron James who is now chief investigator for the county prosecutor's office, said that he strongly supports increasing funding for drug investigations at the state and local levels.

Money needed to solve the drug problem, however, we all know, does not come out of thin air. So I was pleased to learn that the U.S. Congress and President Bush were able to agree on an emer

1 See p. 120 for Senator Long's prepared statement.

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