In Black America; NABCJ with Dr. Lee P. Brown on Drugs

[beeping] [music] From the Longhorn Radio Network, the University of Texas at Austin, this is In Black America. - As a professional in the criminal justice system, your active involvement in the crusade against drugs is essential. Yes, as a society, we must direct and prosecute the drug violators

so that our streets and neighborhoods will be safe for our citizens, especially our children. But as individuals, we must be the conscience of this nation. Your organization must be the conscience of this nation. Calling for a massive effort to correct the problems: social, economics, and behavioral that lead to drug addiction. And we must each do our own small, but vital part of helping a young person find the right path to life. Take one young person [inaudible]. Become as mentor, as counselor, keep them from getting back into trouble. Take a pregnant teenage girl, teach her prenatal care, sanitation and nutrition. Help save one. Indeed the past is something to be sure, but the future of our country and of all Americans depend on our efforts, and we cannot afford to fail. - Former New York Police Commissioner, Dr. Lee P. Brown. This past spring, Dr. Brown was sworn in to lead the nation's drug war as the new drug czar. He is served at the helm of several of America's largest urban police forces

during his more than 30 years in law enforcement. Dr. Brown served as New York City Police Commissioner from 1990 through 1992, as police chief of Houston, Texas from 1982 through 1990, and as Atlanta's Public Safety Commissioner from 1978 through 1982. Most recently, he was a professor at Texas Southern University and director of the University's Black Male Initiative Program. Dr. Brown is also the author of many articles in papers on police management, community policing, crime and the criminal justice system. I'm John L. Henson Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America. This week, the nation's new drug czar, Dr. Lee P. Brown, in Black America. - Legalization of illegal drugs would be the moral equivalent to genocide. And so we must confront the drug problem. what the President refers to as "the many headed monsters," through an aggressive and a comprehensive national strategy,

making effective use of all the tools available to us. Prevention, treatment, law enforcement, interdiction, and international cooperation. We must convince the American people that their sobriety and that of their children is as much a part of the American dream as a home ownership or college education, and that home, family, and career are easily lost, if ever came at all, in the nightmare of drug addiction. We should support [inaudible] that promote family and community stability. Families burdened with the stresses of unemployment, poor housing, or no housing. Inferior education, social alienation often cannot provide the kind of environment necessary for raising individuals capable of prospering in America. - This past summer, the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice held its annual convention in Houston, Texas. NABCJ seeks to focus attention on relevant legislation, law enforcement, prosecution, defense-related needs, and practices

with emphasis on the courts, correction, and the prevention of crime. It also coordinates the efforts of any and all organizations that are concerned with the elimination of injustice within the justice system. At the convention, a number of topics were discussed that focused attention on the growing drug problem within the African-American community. Everyone is aware that a large percentage of the prison population are those doing time for drug-related offenses. It has been reported that drugs are the root causes for the increase in petty and major crimes. Dr. Lee P. Brown, the nation's new drug czar, understands the drug problem this country has. He has spent more than 30 years in law enforcement. At the convention, I spoke with Dr. Brown regarding his Cabinet-level position and the nation's drug war. - I spent over 30 years in police work, the last 17 years heading police agencies, including the Houston Police Department. So I've seen firsthand the problems drugs bring to the cities, to the streets, and to the neighborhoods: misery, despair, violence, crime,

and even death all too often. When I met with the President then, I was very impressed with his commitment to do something about the problem. He was concerned. He had a personal commitment and considering those two facts, my concern and his concern and his commitment was what were the determining factors for me to accept his offer. And I'm indeed honored to have the chance to serve on the Cabinet of the president in my position as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. It's a real honor, it's a real challenge, and we're going to work hard in order to make a difference. - In this country, the media leads us to believe that the problems, particularly addressing African-Americans in this country, is directly related to drugs. Is that so the case in your opinion? - There is no simple answer to the drug problem. It's very complex. We see a couple of things happen and we find that there's a decrease, and a significant decrease, in casual drug use. By that I mean people who hold on a job and use drugs and still hold their job. We don't see that same decrease and we have a very, very serious problem with hardcore drug use.

And the hardcore drug user are generally the people in our inner cities and our disadvantaged. And it's important to talk about the disadvantaged, our many of the people in our inner cities, because a lot of that does relate to the lack of opportunities for meaningful employment. A lot of that does relate to the crisis in our elementary and secondary educational system. A lot of that does relate to the crisis in the family not being what it was years gone by. A lot of it does relate to the unemployment, under-employment. A lot of it does relate to the homelessness. And so when we look at the drug problem, which is important that the drug director serve on the president's Cabinet with all the other department heads. When we look at the drug problem, it cuts across all lines. If we're going to do something about it, we have to give to young people hope: hope in terms of being able to have employment, but not just employment, meaningful employment where they can support themselves and their families. That is what's very critical. That means we have to look at what happens in terms of reform of our educational system.

That means we have to instill in our young people values that normally come from the family to keep them from going toward drugs as a means of escape. That means we have to have jobs so people can have work. That means that our religious institutions have to instill the morality against drug use into the lives of our young people. It involves the media doing its part in terms of reducing the violence that we see all too often. It involves the Congress giving sensible gun control legislation to the American people, such as the Brady Bill, a small thing to ask for a waiting period, which I think will save the lives of some people and some police officers. So it's not a simple solution, but I think we know what we have to do. What we have to do now is to join the crusade against drugs and make sure that we all do our part. Every individual, if each parent saw to it that their home was drug free, that would be a major step. If each parent saw to it that their home was gunless, that their children were not bringing guns home, that would be a major step. If we could have, as the President is pushing for his economic plan, more jobs, that would be a major step.

If we can do what the President is attempting to do in reducing our national deficit, that would be a major step. So there are things that are being done and there's a commitment on behalf of this administration to make a difference. Whenever we leave office, I want to be able to say, the President wants to be able to say, that we made a difference on many fronts, but the one I want to be able to talk about positively would be the drug problem in America. - Within the policy that you're going to formulate by the fall of this year, public health is a cornerstone of that particular policy. In your opinion, why is public health such an important factor? - The President recognizes that all too many Americans do not have access to adequate health care. He's committed to address that. That's the reason he pointed the First Lady to head the health care reform movement. Part of that must also be the drug treatment issue. We can't lose sight of the fact that the addict is a big part of the drug problem. If one is addicted, want treatment, can't get treatment, they're going to continue to use drugs.

So the goal of this administration is to close the gap between those who want treatment and those who are able to get treatment. Our objective is to have drug treatment as part of the national health care system. We believe that treatment, drug treatment is not only good crime policy, it's also good health policy. It's also good economic policy. It's also good urban policy. So that is the reason we place such a heavy emphasis on treatment as being an integral part of our national health care system. - [recorded] I want to emphasize, and perhaps this is already clear to all of you here, but often it's overlooked, that our strategy should be a national strategy, not a federal one. The federal role in anti-drug programs is a large, and indeed a very important one to be sure. In fact, the President is seeking a record $13 billion for drug control programs in fiscal year 1994. And this he's doing despite the budget deficit, despite the budget cuts, and five-year hard freeze on overall domestic spending.

That's the commitment that we have in this administration. But anyone who thinks that the federal government alone can eliminate drugs and the misery they cause on the landscape of America is sadly mistaken. And nearly every family has been touched in one way or another by the problems of drugs in this country. The drugs invade our schools impeding the learning process. They overburden our criminal justice system. They undermine the public health system. They make our streets unsafe, and they reduce our productivity in the workplace. But most important, it robs our country of its vitality and it plunders our future. And because the problem pervades all aspects of American life, so must the solution be broad-based and inclusive. I think the President said it best a few days ago when he swore me in in the Rose Garden, when he said "Each and every American

bear the personal responsibility to play a role in this battle." And he said that this is a fight that surely can unite us all across the boundaries of party, race, region, and income. To me, that doesn't mean that public officials such as ourselves should sit back and expect our fellow citizens acting individually or in groups to take on the drug problem, the traffickers, and the problem of addiction. To the contrary, we must use their energy, their commitment to assist us in making a difference because we can't win without that support. Government must be the people's ally, their advocate, their reliable partner. We've got to give the people the tools and the resources they need to wage the battle. We must enact and enforce tough but simple laws, in short, we must provide leadership. But leadership should not come from those of us with titles.

It must come from people like yourselves, the staffs in our jails and our prisons, our probation officers and our courts, our law enforcement agencies, our juvenile justice system workers. Because you are the ones that are truly on the front line, in our struggle against drugs and crime and violence, because you interact more closely with the problems, the high risk individuals, than practically any other person in the system. You can lead in so many ways as your organization has done so often. You can do so by showing the residents of neighborhoods, your own and also others, how to mobilize against the problems of drugs, crime and violence. By understanding that you are and ought to be a very positive role model for our young people, and by devoting your time to a young person who needs a helping hand with adults, adults who care. And I know you're committed to these all and I salute you for what you've done over the past 20 years. And I thank you for what you've done over the past 20 years.

Thank you for your tireless, and often under-appreciated efforts. But as we look at your past 20 years and where we are today, and indeed the theme of your conference, I also guess that there's some concern among African-Americans, that I'm sure all of you recognize the recent events, in this country such as the Rodney King being in March of 1991, and the violent uprising that followed the acquittal of police officers charged in that beating in April of 1992, have focused unprecedented attention on the state of African-Americans, particularly African-American males, and the criminal justice system. Not since the urban uprisings of the 1960s has there been so much discussion about the role of race and the criminal justice system. Out of that comes things we've already known. We well know that Blacks, particularly Black males, are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system statistically: arrests, victimization, incarceration, and execution. But the statistics, as grim as they are, do not tell the complete story about the impact of crime on the African-American community.

The statistics do not show the financial and the human cost of crime. The families torn apart. The businesses that are forced to relocate out of the Black community. The increased tax bill. Nor do these statistics show the cost to our social fabric, the fear in which so many Americans must conduct their daily lives. Fear which erodes the vitality of the African-American community. Consider if you would, the fact that homicide is a leading cause of death for all African-American males between the ages of 15 and 24. Indeed, we all must be concerned we're told that a Black male's probability of being a murder victim during his lifetime is one out of 27. For his white counterpart it's one out of 205.

We all must be concerned, we're told by the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, that African-American males living in poverty are less likely to reach the age of 65, than men in Bangladesh. And the main reason being that they are overwhelmingly the victims of homicide. Now though the much of the research and discussion on the Black male as the victim focuses on homicide, we must not lose sight of the fact that African-American males also have a higher victimization rate than others. For example, data has shown that Black males have a higher robbery, aggravated assault, and vehicle theft rate than any other race or sex group. It's estimated that during their lifetime two out of five Black males will be a violent crime victim, three or more times. We must be concerned about the fact that recent studies revealed that on an average day in 1991, 42 percent of our nation's capital's, that's Washington DC, young African-American males,

between the ages of 18 and 35 were either in jail or prison, awaiting trial for sentencing, were on probation or parole, or being sought under warrants for their arrest. We have a serious problem when there are more Black men in jail or prison, probation or parole, than we have in our colleges and universities. We have a serious problem when African-American males are disproportionately represented among the jobless, and indeed the homeless. So as we look at these statistics, clearly the problems that confront the African-American community today are immense. I would submit to you that they present to us no less of a challenge than we had during the Civil Rights Movement. The challenge to make a difference in the lives of our young African-American males and females, because they are our future. And nothing will destroy that future as surely as drugs. Drug trafficking and drug use have taken an enormous toll on the African-American community in terms of misery,

in terms of despair, assault, incarceration and death. Although Blacks make up only about 14 percent of the drug users, nearly half of all persons convicted for felony drug trafficking in state courts are Black. Despite these higher-risk statistics, drugs and drug-related violence continue to plague the African-American community. And we look at the challenge that confronts us, we find that drugs may not occupy the headlines of our newspapers as frequently as in the past. They may no longer rank as the number one concern in public opinion polls, but you know as well as I that there is still very much a part of us, still causing untold misery, despair, crime and death. Recently released 1992 data and supported by my own observations on the streets of some of our major cities, confirmed a continued increase in hard-core drug use,

especially in our inner cities and among the disadvantaged. And many of these heavy drug users are addicted to cocaine, especially crack cocaine. And heroin, our old nemesis of previous decades, is showing signs of making a deadly comeback. Fueled by bumper crops of opium poppies in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, and by the new aggressive drug trafficking gangs seeking to develop and export new markets. On the supply side of the drug equation, the results are not encouraging. Drug-related violence, I certainly don't need to tell you about this, continues to rage in many cities throughout America. With respect to availability, despite drug seizures that increase nearly every year, the quantity of drugs crossing our borders and sold in the streets of our cities has not declined. The price and purity trends have been largely stable.

As you know better than anyone drug-related arrests and convictions threaten to overwhelm our prisons and our entire criminal justice system. In the face of such trends, there are some opinion leaders have decided to throw in the towel, believing that the drug problem is too widespread, too deeply rooted, or too expensive to do anything about. I speak of course of those who advocate legalization or decriminalization. At its core, the drug problem is about the responsibility of government to its citizens and the kind of society we are and aspire to be. As the President said recently, the first responsibility of government is to safeguard the safety of its citizens. As the former police chief of several cities of this country, including this one, I've held that considerable responsibility. I've seen all too often how drugs turn our streets, our parks, and even our schools into lawless war zones.

Anyone who thinks use of drugs is a victimless crime should visit a crack house. If there is a contemporary hell on earth, a place where a raw state of nature exists, it's in that crack house. There, every unspeakable act of human degradation is on display. Fueldd not by law enforcement, but by crack cocaine's ability to enslave and dehumanize. And who are the victims? They include teenage mothers who sell their bodies for a parcel of cocaine. They include the abandoned children who have never known the love of a family. And they include our neighborhoods in parts of our great cities, made unlivable by the ferocious effects of drugs. Anyone who believes that drug addiction is a victimless crime, visit our hospital and see a baby born to a mother addicted to cocaine. Our President has eloquently stated the case for maintaining stiff legal sanctions against drugs use by citing the example of his own brother, Roger, who would never have sought treatment for cocaine addiction on his own.

Those who are caught in the web of addiction often lose their ability to exercise free will, act rationally. It's a sad fact that in many cases only the criminal justice system can provide the coercive forces necessary to save an individual from themselves and society from the result of his addiction. Now I harbor no illusions about the tenacity of the drug problem. They will always, to some degree, be with us. But we have the ability to attack the problem more successfully than in the past through some new and creative directions in drug policy. I intend to articulate these new directions more fully in a national drug control strategy to be issued this fall. And that strategy will outline a multi-faceted offensive to confront the drug problem at every turn. A basic tenet of this strategy is the idea we need to view the drug issue as just as much a public health problem as a law enforcement one.

Treatment is not only good drug policy, it's good crime policy, it's good health policy, good economic policy, and good urban policy. That means we need more and better drug treatment, particularly in our criminal justice system. We must make drug treatment a part of our national health plan. And the First Lady is working on that on behalf of the President. We must do so, so all Americans can secure treatment when they need it. We should step up our efforts to develop new and more effective medications for drug addiction. And of course, we should increase our efforts to instill in America's youth a set of values to in effect immunize them against the allure of drug trafficking and the escape of drug addiction. And the president is seeking a 10% increase in funding for demand reduction programs in his 1994 budget. Community policing will be a major component of our new drug strategy.

Community policing works. I believe it can work in virtually any American town or city. Community policing helps the residents of drug-infested communities to reclaim their parks, their playgrounds, and streets, and to make them safe once again for our children. Community policing not only reduces the availability of drugs, it can help reduce the demand as well. - Drugs have not been something new to this country, but within the last two decades, it seems that it is gotten beyond law enforcement to deal with. In your opinion, what happened in that 20-year span? - Most importantly, about the middle of the last decade, the mid-1980s, we saw the emergence of crack cocaine on the scene. And that's completely changed the complexion of drug use and crime in America. It's still one of the major problems that we have in this country. That's been one of the most significant changes that we've seen. We are now seeing, unfortunately, the potential of heroin coming back again.

Our old nemesis of some time ago. We are also seing, unfortunately, our young people using LSD again. That becomes a major problem. So what we have to do is make sure that our efforts are continuous. We can't build an effective drug control program based upon elections. It has to be long-range and short-range. My objective is to lay out a national drug control strategy that will carry us into the future with the recognition that there's no simple answer. We have to be in it for the long haul and not worry about certain dates, like when elections come into local or state or national level. And then at the same time, address the problem because people are suffering in the neighborhoods. They don't want to see the drug dealer on their street corners. They don't want their children to be involved in drug use. And so our objective is to look at what's working, embellish upon it. Things are not working, we'll discard them. - Should we look at a new way of punishment or how we deal with drug offenses in this country? - I think those who sell drugs certainly must suffer the consequences.

By the same token, those who want to get off drugs must be helped. One of the things we'll be looking at in this administration under the leadership of the Attorney General is a minimum mandatory sentencing, whether or not we should propose to the Congress some modifications in that. The reason is because we see the prisons being overwhelmed, the criminal justice system being overwhelmed. When we look at the federal government's drug control budget, a substantially large, if not the largest amount, go to our prison system. And that doesn't leave the funds to do other things we want to do like treatment, like prevention, like education. So we'll look at minimum mandatory sentences and propose to the President some changes if we find that needs to be done. But clearly those who traffic in drugs need to be arrested and punished. Those who are addicted and want help should receive help. - When I'm on the streets, those that I've come in contact with said they're being targeted for the punishment in this War on Drugs that we have in this country.

Is there another level of enforcement that your office and local and federal authorities are now paying attention to? - Well, my message to those who are complaining about being targeted, if they're dealing with drugs, that's easy to deal with. Don't deal with the drugs and they won't be targeted. They can get themselves out of that fix right quick. Don't do it. That's my message to them. But clearly drug trafficking involves several levels of enforcement. We deal with the international level, that's the source countries, those who are growing the crops. We deal with interdiction, that is bringing the drugs across our borders. We deal with the distribution, those who spread the drugs throughout the country. We deal with the wholesaler, those who sell it to the ones who sell it on the streets. We deal with the street dealer. And we deal with the ones who are using it. So it's a comprehensive approach that will always be the case as long as we have a drug problem in America. - Dr. Lee P. Brown, Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy. I would like to thank the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice for their assistance in the production of this program. If you have a question or comment or suggestions, as to future In Black America programs, write us.

Views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or the University of Texas at Austin. Until we have the opportunity again, for In Black America's technical producer, David Alvarez. I'm John L. Hanson Jr., please join us again next week. Cassette copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing In Black America Cassettes. Longhorn Radio Network, Communication Building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. That's In Black America Cassettes, Longhorn Radio Network, Communication Building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. From the Center for Telecommunications Services, the University of Texas at Austin, this is the Longhorn Radio Network. I'm John L. Hanson, Jr.

Join me this week on In Black America. [inaudible under music] party toleration of drug use has worsened, not including these convictions. It would make a profoundly disturbing statement about our character as a people. The nation's new drug czar, Dr. Lee P. Brown, this week on In Black America. [Music]