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United States Support For Colombia   Fact Sheet released by the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs   July 10, 2000

Demand Reduction

Why not put the entire $1.3 billion into reducing the demand for drugs in the United States? After all, our demand drives Andean drug production in the first place?

Our National Drug Control Strategy is a balanced approach that confronts every aspect of the illegal drug problem: reducing demand, enforcing domestic laws, interdicting drugs at our borders, and working with our international partners.

All components of the Strategy must be pursued vigorously. Demand reduction efforts are severely undermined when cheap, potent drugs are cheaply available on our streets.

Funds for overseas supply reduction still represent a small percentage of our entire National Drug Control budget. For example, in FY 1999, USG funding by counter-drug activity broke down as follows:

• $5.4 B for demand reduction activities (e.g., treatment, prevention, research) -- 33% of the National Drug Control budget.
• $8.6B for domestic law enforcement -- 53% of that budget.
• $1.6B for interdiction at U.S. borders -- 10% of that budget.
• And just $0.5B for our international efforts -- a mere 3% of the budget.

Moreover, significant new resources are going into demand reduction. The President's FY 2001 budget, for the first time ever, requests over $6B for reducing the demand for drugs in the United States. The request includes increases of $50M for Safe and Drug-Free Schools; $54M for expanding drug-treatment capacity; $31M for the substance abuse block grant; and $37M for treatment and prevention research.

And these programs are working. As reported in August 1999, youth drug use (ages 12-17) nationwide is down13% from the prior year. Over this same period, youth inhalant use has declined 45% and cocaine use has dropped 20%. Across America, drug-related murders have hit a 10-year low.

But, we cannot protect our cities and rural areas by looking inward. Rapidly expanding cocaine and heroin production in Colombia constitutes a threat to U.S. national security and the well-being of our citizens -- as well as damaging Colombia and the transit-zone countries.

Expanding support for prevention and treatment should be, and has been, a priority of the Administration. Providing supplemental assistance to Colombia to counter an emergency situation is also a high priority.

This should not be portrayed as a false tradeoff. America needs both.

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