The Ineffective and Unchanging Drug Strategy
Abstract
President Bush announced his National Drug Control Strategy on September 5, 1989. It emphasized a multinational and multi-agency approach to attack both the supply and demand aspects of illegal drug use in the United States. On September 18, 1989, Secretary of Defense (SecDef) Cheney issued implementing counterdrug strategy for the Department of Defense (DoD). He determined that a principal foreign policy objective is the reduction, and if possible, elimination of the flow of illegal narcotic substances into the US. Based upon this finding, in combination with DoD's statutory responsibilities to support law enforcement agencies, he identified the countering of the production, trafficking, and use of illegal drugs as a high priority national security mission. At almost the exact same time that the war against drugs heated up, the cold war ended. Soon after SecDef announced his drug strategy, the Berlin wall" tumbled down. The cold war and DoD's war on drugs share a common strategy they both rely on the security assistance program to achieve their goals. Security assistance in the cold war was largely successful, but in spite of best intentions, it has not been successful as a strategy in DoD's drug war. Its continued use is based not upon a rational policy, but rather on organizational process and bureaucratic politics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA440836
Entities
Organizations
- National War College