Caucus on International Narcotics Control
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Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. is a leader in Congress on combating drug use and stemming the flow of drugs into our country. Each year illegal drug use and violence from drug trafficking costs our country billions of dollars and thousands of lives. Using the bully pulpit of the Drug Caucus, Senator Biden has chaired hearings, solicited expert testimony, authored legislation, and released reports on domestic and international narcotic trafficking. Senator Biden's comprehensive legislative solutions reflect his understanding that drugs in America are a multi-billion dollar international criminal enterprise, a major cause of crime and gang activity, and a tragic addiction that tears apart families and neighborhoods.
Counternarcotics
Senator Biden consistently pushes for counter-narcotics to be a high priority in U.S. foreign policy. Senator Biden issued a report in 1980 entitled "The Sicilian Connection: Southwest Asian Heroin en route to the United States."e The report contained numerous recommendations for both the domestic and foreign policy counter-narcotics effort, including an "interagency narcotics coordinating body"e with a director to set priorities. That idea ultimately led to the successful legislative effort in 1988 to create a "drug czar"e position to coordinate U.S. government drug policy. Since this legislation went into effect, there has been improved coordination, better strategies and a more focused commitment to reducing drug use through tough enforcement, robust prevention, and treatment.
Senator Biden co-authored a drug certification law conditioning U.S. assistance on counter-narcotics performance by foreign states, which was enacted in 1986 and last modified in 2002. He also proposed a novel plan to reduce debt burden of Andean nations in exchange for their commitments on counter-narcotics. And Senator Biden was a strong advocate for Plan Colombia in 2000, traveling to Colombia twice that year���once accompanying President Clinton���to visit Colombian leadership and assess U.S. programs.
While Senator Biden has developed innovative proposals to curb the supply of drugs from South America and beyond, he is also concerned about the drug trade in countries closer to home. Mexico has been a significant source of drugs entering the United States. As a neighboring country that shares with us a long and porous border, coupled with Americans' steady demand for illegal drugs, Mexico has been a hotbed of narcotics production and trafficking. Through the Drug Caucus, Senator Biden has exerted pressure on Mexico to prevent the unrestricted importation of methamphetamine precursor chemicals and to shut down methamphetamine superlabs and rein in drug trafficking organizations.
Educating Children and Keeping Drugs Out of Schools
Educating kids about the dangers of drugs before they become users is one of the best ways to prevent the problem from growing. In an effort to help local communities prevent young people from abusing drugs, Senator Biden helped create the successful Drug Free Communities Support Program. This initiative provides funds to coalitions of parents, teachers, business people, police, medical professionals and other local leaders working to prevent drug use in their communities.
To further protect our kids from the scourge of drugs, Senator Biden wrote the law that triples penalties for criminals who use kids to sell drugs, toughens penalties for selling drugs near playgrounds and schools, and increases penalties for drug use and drug trafficking in prisons.
Drug dealers are now trying to lure kids into the drug world by offering dangerous combinations of drugs like "cheese"e heroin, a lethal cocktail of heroin and over-the-counter cold medications such as Tylenol PM. Children are also turning to cheap and readily available over-the-counter cough medicines to high. Senator Biden is working to put an end to these practices by increasing penalties for offering flavored drugs to kids and by raising awareness of that just because a medicine like cough medicine is legal, that doesn't mean it can't be lethal.
Preventing Drug Use in Small Towns
There are more than 20 million active drug users in the United States today. These individuals suffering from addiction don't just live in big cities, they live and work and attend schools in small towns and rural communities all across the country. As the top Democrat on the Drug Caucus, Senator Biden has held numerous hearings to shine a spotlight on drug use in small town communities.
Senator Biden has been at the forefront of national policy on methamphetamine for over 15 years, issuing reports in the early 1990s warning that methamphetamine would make its way across the country and negatively impact rural America; writing major methamphetamine legislation in 1996 and 2000; and cosponsoring legislation to regulate cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in methamphetamine. In 2005, in an effort to address the growing threat of methamphetamine use in America, Senator Joe Biden joined with several colleagues in unveiling the Anti-Meth Caucus. This new group works closely to formulate a cohesive, nationwide strategy against methamphetamine addiction.
Treating Addiction and Helping Inmates Kick the Habit
A strong advocate of treating addiction and helping substance abusers kick their habits, Senator Biden helped author the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000, a bill to expand access to drug treatment by allowing qualified doctors to prescribe certain anti-addiction medications from the privacy of their offices rather than special treatment clinics.
To help prevent overcrowding in our nation's prisons and prevent non-violent, first-time offenders from being locked up, Senator Biden helped create Drug Courts as part of his landmark 1994 Biden Crime Law.
Senator Biden is an author of the Second Chance Act, legislation that would provide states and local governments grants to help their prisoners kick their drug addictions while they are incarcerated so that when they are released, they can make a smooth transition back to society.
Combating Designer Drugs
Senator Biden has worked to combat the use of "trendy"e club drugs such as Ecstasy, Ketamine and Rohypnol, the "date rape" drug. Biden wrote the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 which added 18 additional substances to the list of illicit steroids. Biden's law recognizes that professional athletes must not only compete fairly and drug-free, but they serve as role models to our youth ��� and steroid use by these role models can't be tolerated.