U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs

Subcommittee News

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

News from Congressman Eliot Engel

Representing the Bronx, Westchester, and Rockland Counties
Offices in the Bronx, Mount Vernon and West Nyack
2161 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Contact: Eric Jacobstein or Jason Steinbaum, 202-226-9980
For Release: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

ENGEL INTRODUCES WESTERN HEMISPHERE
DRUG POLICY COMMISSION ACT OF 2009
Chairman of House Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Introduces Bill to Assess US Counternarcotics Policies

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Eliot L. Engel – the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere – introduced the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission Act of 2009, a bill that will create an independent commission to evaluate US policies and programs aimed at reducing illicit drug supply and demand.

Rep. Engel said, “Billions upon billions of US taxpayer dollars have been spent over the years to fight the drug war in Latin America and the Caribbean. In spite of our efforts, since the early 1980s, the number of US lifetime drug users has steadily risen for marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Clearly, the time has come to reexamine our counternarcotics efforts here at home and throughout the Americas.”

The Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission will be required to submit recommendations on future US drug policy to Congress, the Secretary of State, and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) 12 months after its first meeting.

Rep. Engel – who is also a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health – added, “To tackle our nation’s horrific drug problem once and for all, we cannot simply look to solutions on the supply side. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said it best in Mexico City recently when she noted that ‘our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade.’ The Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission will assess all aspects of the drug war – including prevention and treatment.”

While the United States accounts for approximately 5 percent of world population, in 2007 an estimated 17.2 percent of the world’s users of illegal drugs were from the United States. One hundred percent of the United States cocaine supply, and 90 percent of the United States heroin supply originates in South America. In addition, the countries of Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico are key transit countries for drugs entering the US.

Representatives Connie Mack (R-FL), Howard Berman (D-CA), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Dan Burton (R-IN), Robert Wexler (D-FL), and Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR) joined Congressman Engel as original co-sponsors of the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission Act of 2009.