Secretary Napolitano touts new anti-drug plan

Secretary Napolitano touts new anti-drug plan

by Arthur H. Rotstein - Jun. 5, 2009 12:00 AM
Associated Press

TUCSON - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano promised Thursday that a new Obama Administration border drug-fighting strategy won't just focus on smugglers.

She said the counternarcotics plan also will set its sights on reducing demand from drug users. Napolitano will unveil it Friday with Attorney General Eric Holder and drug czar Gil Kerlikowske (kur-lih-KOW'-skee) in Albuquerque, N.M.

"This is not just about slowing or impeding the flow of drugs from Mexico and Central America into the United States, it's also about reducing the demand for those drugs," she said.

Napolitano wouldn't elaborate on details during an appearance here Thursday in which she announced grants of about $59 million for local law enforcement efforts to combat crime along the southwestern border.

But she said the lack of permanent leadership in three key federal agencies won't hinder the effort.

Currently, interim directors are running Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Napolitano said all three are career professionals "highly expert" in their areas.

The new drug program, the law enforcement grants under an existing program called Operation Stonegarden and other resources the federal government is adding along the Mexican border are part of the administration's integrated effort to combat cartel-related violence in Mexico, Napolitano said.

The former Arizona's governor said the effort is intended to keep the violence from pouring across the border.

She also cited additional resources that the federal government is adding along the Mexican border, including new license plate readers and explosives detection equipment and funding for greater criminal alien removal projects.

"The drug cartel violence is in Mexico, and this change is to integrate with our federal efforts to assist Mexico and to make sure that spillover violence doesn't occur within the United States," she said.

She also said federal officials are working with their Mexican counterparts to try to make certain that gains Mexico has made in reducing cartel-related violence around Juarez are maintained.

That reduction has been credited largely to a heavy military presence around Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

"We're very cognizant of the fact that at some point you're not going to have 5,000 or 6,000 active-duty military in Juarez," she said.

"So the challenge is moving in of other, civilian law enforcement so that you can maintain the progress that was made in the last months with the military there. We're working with Mexican law enforcement to ensure that that happens."

In April, the city of Ciudad Juarez and the Mexican federal government signed an agreement to train, recruit and equip sufficient city police officers to take over security patrols being performed by 5,000 army troops.

The city's mayor said the army presence starting in March had cut homicides by 95 percent, from an average of 10 per day to about four a week. Eight people were killed there this week.

Later Thursday, in Albuquerque, N.M., Napolitano also announced members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council Southwest Border Task Force, which held its first meeting at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.

The task force - made up of law enforcement officers, elected officials and national security experts - is charged with studying the Homeland Security Department's efforts along the border and giving advice directly to the secretary.

Napolitano said she has asked the 20-member group to focus on ensuring rigorous inspection processes at ports of entry while allowing commerce to continue and assessing the practical consequences of border violence.

The task force is chaired by former CIA and FBI Director William Webster. Other members include former ambassador to Mexico Jim Jones, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, New Mexico National Guard Maj. Gen. Kenny Montoya and Sheriff Raymond Cobos of Luna County, N.M.

We sure don't want any of that Mexican marijuana showing up in the New Mexico Dispensary System now do we? :jointsmile:

Personally im tired of mexishitweed although its gotten better and better over the years. Demand is to high for it, we will have our herb no matter what these people launch. :thumbsup:

Quote:

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"This is not just about slowing or impeding the flow of drugs from Mexico and Central America into the United States, it's also about reducing the demand for those drugs," she said.

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What better way to reduce demand than legalizing cannabis in the US! Makes perfect sense to me.