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DrugScreening.org


 
Souder Blasts Bush's Drug Prevention, Enforcement Strategy
May 23, 2005

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News Summary

Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), a key conservative leader in the House of Representatives, says that the Bush administration has been "negligent" in dealing with the drug issue, and has been strongly critical of proposed budget cuts targeting prevention and law-enforcement programs, the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette reported May 22.

"The No. 1 crime problem in America is related to narcotics, and it's about time this administration understood that problem," said Souder. "What you see is a national strategy that I never thought I would see out of my party, which is 'Washington knows best because you guys at the local level just don't cooperate right.'"

Souder gives Bush credit for the administration's treatment and international interdiction programs, but, "on the law enforcement and prevention, this budget is a disaster," he said.

For example, the administration has proposed cutting funding for the Safe and Drug Free Schools program and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, saying that they have not been effective. "This is not a question about cutting drug dollars," Souder said. "This is a systematic, philosophical change of this administration in how they want to approach narcotics."

"I, as a Christian, believe the source problem is sin," Souder said. "You do not get rid of sin. There is nothing in the Bible that suggests sin is going to disappear. If you want to call it something else that is a struggle when you start to get addicted to an illegal substance, fine, call it that; but ... do not ask me why we cannot get rid of drug use in the United States and not ask the same question about rape, spouse abuse, and child abuse and other things we struggle with. We never get rid of them. What we do is we try to control them the best we can."

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