CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE
PREVENTION AND TREATMENT APPROPRIATIONS AMENDMENT (5/18/00)


The Senate is preparing to vote on the Foreign Operations Appropriations legislation, which includes proposed funds for the drug war in Colombia.

Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) intends to offer an amendment that would shift $225 million of the funds to domestic prevention and treatment programs. THE VOTES COULD HAPPEN TODAY, TOMORROW OR NEXT WEEK.

BACKGROUND
The House of Representatives has approved a request by the Clinton Administration to provide $1.3 billion in emergency funding for counter-narcotic efforts in Colombia and other countries. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) offered an amendment to add the same amount to the legislation for domestic prevention and treatment programs, which was rejected.

Senator Wellstone has told the Senate, which will take up the request as a part of the regular appropriations process, that the bulk of funding for the Administration’s Colombia Plan focuses on the supply side of the drug problem, without focusing on the severe emergency going on in our own country the emergency of drug addiction and the lack of treatment for those with this disease.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Contact your senators through the Capitol Hill switchboard (202/224-3121) or via the internet and ask for his or her office — and urge them to support Senator Wellstone’s amendment:

Talking Points:

  • This amendment will address the domestic emergency we face regarding substance abuse prevention and treatment.

  • Any effort to fight drug problems must include demand reduction. We must recognize that if addiction is not treated, the demand will not lessen, and the associated problems and costs of the many resulting social problems such as crime, illness, child abuse, and unemployment will continue.

  • The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy acknowledges that more than half the adults in immediate need of treatment cannot receive treatment; this means more than 2 million adults who need treatment right now are not getting it.


    • If you have any questions, please contact the Public Policy Office via e-mail at publicpolicy@ncadd.org.