All of these developments underscore the need for a comprehensive international drug control effort. We rust insure the involvement of all countries in both supply and demand reduction.

Mr. Chairman, I commend you and your colleagues for addressing the Senate's attention to the drug scene. We in the House welcome your active and conscious oversight of the drug law enforcement agencies to assure that maximum efforts are directed against the criminal elements which deal in illicit narcotics.

Senate subcommittees have been active in the past in alerting the public to the dangers of drug abuse. You yourself, as I have said, are in a unique position in the Senate to join with the House in our efforts. We all must play a part in the dedicated efforts to bring this message to the American people.

The "war on drugs" has not been won-unless positive action is taken we may find that we have lost the battle and the drug culture will be an accepted and condoned part of our society.

The decline of our society may parallel the decline of other societies in history-future generations may well call us to account if we fail. I will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Senator BIDEN. Congressman, that is a very thorough and obviously thoughtful statement based on a great deal of experience. But my experience in the field of practicing law and handling injuries tells me that you probably are in a great deal of pain. I have a number of questions for you but I also have a number of months and years to work with you on this. So I will not ask you any questions-not because I do not have any and not because you could not enlighten this committee but because of your injury.

Representative WOLFF. I thank you.

Senator BIDEN. Again, I apologize for keeping you as long as I did, and I look forward to formally and informally taking advantage of the vast experience and knowledge you have acquired in this area. Not that you need permission from me, but you are excused and I really appreciate your coming over.

Representative WOLFF. Thank you.

Senator BIDEN. Tom.

Representative RAILSBACK. Mr. Chairman, rather than repeat any of the statements made by Mr. Wolff, our chairman, with which I completely concur, I think I would, if I may, ask permission to have my prepared statement included in the record. I think I will rather briefly summarize

Senator BIDEN. Fine.

Representative RAILSBACK [continuing]. And supplement, with a bit more emphasis on heroin rather than marihuana.

In the early 1970's, most of the heroin which reached the streets of the U.S. cities was grown in Turkey and processed in southern France. Successful diplomatic initiatives have all but stopped the illegal smuggling of Turkish heroin into the United States. However, as we know, the demand remained and the void was filled by a steady flow of Mexican heroin.

According to the DEA, 97 percent of all heroin imported into the United States in 1975 was Mexican brown heroin. Again, through patient diplomatic efforts led by the State Department and DEA, the 6.5 metric tons of Mexican heroin imported into the United States in 1975 has been reduced to less than 3 metric tons in 1978.

This decrease is the direct result of the success of the Mexican opium poppy eradication program begun with U.S. assistance in 1975. Yet the success in first Turkey, and then Mexico, means only that our efforts to combat heroin smuggling must be shifted to other fronts. DEA told the select committee this summer that their intelligence indicates that there has been a substantial increase in the amount of Southeast Asian heroin being transshipped through Europe destined for the United States.

Mr. Chairman, perhaps more alarming is the emergence of Middle East heroin on the market. In 1976 the Middle Eastern heroin represented approximately 2 percent of the heroin in the United States, but by 1977 this figure had grown to approximately 8 percent.

While the United States has been relatively untouched by Middle Eastern heroin thus far, our successes in stopping traffic elsewhere will virtually insure that this situation will have to be monitored and diplomatic efforts initiated to curtail the problem at its source. All we need to do is look at what has happened in West Germany.

Last year Middle Eastern heroin represented 20 to 30 percent of the heroin available in West Germany, and now it constitutes 70 percent of that country's total supply.

Last April I had the privilege of meeting with DEA officials in Vienna and Rome. Both offices were anxious to discuss the emergence of Middle East heroin, which comes from opium poppies grown now in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as northern Lebanon and Turkey, and some in some of the other Middle Eastern countries, and processed in laboratories located primarily in Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and Afghanistan.

Stopping production and trafficking of heroin from this region presented a serious challenge for our diplomatic and enforcement personnel. The instability of the governments involved, the absence of sound diplomatic relationships, and the inaccessibility to the sources of the poppies are all difficulties which need to be solved in order to halt this new threat.

We must remember that the State Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration must be accorded the ability to develop flexibility and viable international supply reduction programs. Each country with which DEA and the State Department must work presents different enforcement and supply reduction problems. Enforcement programs must be tailored to the specific requirements and cultural background of the targeted area. However, no matter what drug we are attempting to curtail or what region we are fousing on, the most effective method for curtailing drug trafficking is to reduce production at the source.

Our successes with Mexico with respect to marihuana and our current diplomatic efforts with Colombia serve to illustrate this point. Until just 3 years ago, Mexico was the primary source for marihuana as well as heroin. At that time Mexico expanded the spraying of the herbicide paraquat and the smuggling decreased significantly.

That void has been filled by Colombia and Jamaica. Now approximately 70 percent of all marihuana smuggled into the United States is from Colombia. The present Government of Colombia has begun a military campaign to interdict both marihuana and cocaine and is seriously considering crop destruction programs.

Yet economic considerations for Colombia are staggering. DEA estimates that proceeds from drug trafficking approach $1 billion annually, which surpasses coffee revenues. Just as in Mexico, the United States must find creative solutions to these complex issues, and then be prepared to shift to a new front.

Despite some successes in reducing smuggling and consolidating Federal programs, we still seem unable to control the massive drug abuse problem. I think the problem is one of focus and attentionan unwillingness on the part of the White House and the Congress to admit that drug abuse and its related tragedies is a priority domestic problem which must be attacked with the same vigor as discrimination, poverty, and unemployment.

Prevention programs are underfunded, DEA is understaffed, and U.S. embassies address narcotics problems only as an afterthought. Perhaps it is up to the Congress to take the lead and demand that this problem no longer languish on everybody's back burner.

By calling this series of hearings, Mr. Chairman, you are indicating that the Senate is concerned. We in the House will continue to study and to preach the message to the American people-and I think we do have to have an all-out war on drug abuse. I think the time is now.

I might just mention, if I may, Mr. Chairman, that as a member of the select committee under the very able leadership of Chairman Wolff, I think the best purpose that we have served is really putting a focus on the problem of narcotics abuse and need for narcotics rehabilitation.

In other words, before we had the select committee on the House side, I am inclined to believe, even as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, that we really did not do the job that we should have done regarding oversight and investigation of the different aspects of narcotics addiction and drug abuse.

I am very happy to be here and I am happy to see that you are continuing your efforts.

Senator BIDEN. Thank you very much, Congressman.

I have several questions. I will not delay you unduly, I hope.

First, there was testimony the day before yesterday, and your committee has pointed out, that the problem of drug abuse, heroin in particular, is growing in Western Europe. They are finding visited upon them what we had recognized as a problem sometime ago. Representative RAILSBACK. Yes.

Senator BIDEN. Now, coupled with that, you pointed out what has also been pointed out to us, that although there has been progress in Mexico, Colombia. and other places, the Middle East looms as the next big problem. Moreover, you pointed out to us the instability of the Middle East and our lack of full diplomatic relationships and, in an overall sense, a solid relationship, whether or no diplomatic relations exist.

Now, I do not know how we are going to get a handle on that emerging problem unless somehow we are able to impact in some way on the domestic situation in those countries.

Do you see any prospect for, or any benefit in, the United States dealing at a sustained and high level with European governments to try to form a cooperative effort? They may be able, as a consequence of their better relationships, to approach certain countries, particu

larly when their interest is more at stake than ours. Do you think that is a useful way for us to proceed?

Representative RAILSBACK. Mr. Chairman, I really do. I think that that is absolutely essential. Let me just elaborate on what I learned when I was over in the Netherlands, Vienna, and Rome. Heretofore, as you mentioned, heroin addiction had been primarily a very minor problem, but Middle Eastern heroin, which has not reached our market yet, has become a serious problem for those countries.

In West Germany it is my understanding that what has happened, and in some of the other West European countries, there are a number of Turkish "guest workers," guest workers from Turkey among other Middle Eastern countries that go into those countries and engage in drug trafficking. Of course I am not suggesting that all of them are sources or participants in drug trafficking, but apparently some are. That has really compounded the problems, for instance in a country like West Germany.

My feeling is that a high level meeting, such as you suggest, particularly with the developed countries that have the resources to do something about the problem, like West Germany, like France, and other developed countries, would be a good idea.

I also, Mr. Chairman, would go one step further. I would support what has been an ongoing annual conference with the United Nations providing the format and encourage that kind of a forum. By the way, your next witness did a very good job testifying before the last United Nations drug conference.

At the United Nations it is possible to sit down with the people from Afghanistan, from Pakistan, from northern Lebanon, from Turkey, and to let them know we are willing to work with them. We can point out to them how serious the problem is, not just for us but for all the countries involved.

Senator BIDEN. Well

Representative RAILSBACK. Sorry to give you such a long answer. Senator BIDEN. No, no, I am delighted that you did.

I have many more questions, but as I said to Congressman Wolff, we will be continuing to work together, and I will have an opportunity in both formal and informal settings to pursue these matters. Just let me say, Senator Nunn and I have only recently moved into the position of chairing the respective subcommittees that have jurisdiction over this matter in the Senate. As it has been pointed out, because of happenstance if nothing else, I am also on the other committees in the Senate that have jurisdiction in this area.

We have begun to physically coordinate our staffs and our scheduling and our agenda on this issue.

Representative RAILSBACK. Right.

Senator BIDEN. I look forward to working with you on similar matters and coordinating House-Senate activities.

As I indicated, I am sure we will have many opportunities to pursue this. Unfortunately, in the interim the problem will not go away. In light of that. I will not delay you any longer.

Representative RAILSBACK. Thank you.

Senator BIDEN. I know it is a long way over from the other side of the Capitol.

Representative RAILSBACK. Oh, Mr. Chairman, may I ask permission to get these books submitted as a part of Chairman Wolff's testimony?

Senator BIDEN. Surely. They will.

[The books referred to are on file with the committee.]
[The prepared statement of Congressman Railsback follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN TOM RAILSBACK

Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Subcommittee, I would like to thank you for inviting both Chairman Wolff and me to share with you some of what we have learned about drug abuse as a result of our service on the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control. Like Chairman Wolff, I have had the privilege of serving on the Select Committee since it was created by the House of Representatives in 1976.

When it first established the Select Committee, the House mandated that we conduct a continuous, comprehensive study and review of the problems of narcotics abuse and control. Under the constructive and very able leadership of Chairman Wolff, the Select Committee has focused directly on several troubling issues which surfaced as a result of our efforts to carry out this mandate. We certainly do not have all the answers, but I believe our work has made a significant contribution to the ongoing efforts of our government to reduce both the demand for and the supply of drugs in America and worldwide.

Before recounting some specific accomplishments which we have witnessed over the past three years, I think it is important for all of us to recognize that drug abuse is a global problem. It is not limited to any specific nation, geographic region, or any particular economic or social segment of the society. It is truly a worldwide problem which in some way affects every nation and every person on Earth.

In order to respond to this massive problem a coordinated, unified effort by the Federal Government is necessary. Congress, through our committee and the other Committees with appropriate legislative jurisdiction, must work in concert with the White House and the cabinet level departments to insure the efforts to reduce both drug supply and demand are effective.

Over the past three years I have observed a concerted effort on the part of the Federal government to achieve a sensible, coordinated program to address the overwhelming drug abuse problem. The Federal strategy to combat drug abuse is formulated annually by the White House. The Select Committee recently held five days of oversight hearings to review the federal strategy and to learn whether its dictates were being implemented effectively. With few exceptions the policymakers and those who are charged with implementing the strategy were in harmony. But transferral of lofty goals to noticeable achievements is no easy task.

I have also witnessed a significant increase in the amount of cooperation exhibited by the agencies responsible for drug law enforcement. In 1976 efforts by DEA, Customs, the FBI, and the U.S. Coast Guard to reduce smuggling and major trafficking were conducted independently and often overlapped. Now intelligence sharing amoung these agencies and cooperative investigations are the norm rather than the exception. DEA and the FBI have established joint task forces, such as the very successful Operation Banco, which resulted in several indictments against major traffickers in South Florida.

As a result of this increased cooperation at home, significant progress has been made toward furthering international objectives through a coordinated diplomatic and legal approach. Although there is much left to do, some of the results of this approach are notable.

In the early 1970's most of the heroin which reached the streets of U.S. cities was grown in Turkey and processed in southern France. Successful diplomatic initiatives have all but stopped the illegal smuggling of Turkish heroin into the U.S. However, the demand remained, and the void was filled by a steady flow of Mexican heroin. According to the DEA, 87 percent of all heroin imported into the U.S. in 1975 was Mexican brown heroin. Again, through patient diplomatic efforts led by the State Department and DEA, the 6.5 metric tons of Mexican heroin imported into the U.S. in 1975 has been reduced to less than 3.0 metric tons in 1978. This decrease is the direct result of the success of the Mexican opium poppy eradication program begun with U.S. assistance in 1975. Yet the success in first Turkey, and then Mexico means only that our efforts to combat heroin smuggling must be shifted to other fronts. DEA told the Select Committee this summer that their intelligence indicates that currently there has been a substantial increase in the amount of Southeast Asian heroin being transhipped through Europe destined for the U.S.