DRUG ABUSE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1969 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, South Bend, Ind. The select subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:15 a.m., in room N-18, University of Indiana, Hon. John Brademas (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Brademas, Meeds, Reid, Landgrebe, and Hansen. Also present: Jack Duncan, counsel; Marty LaVor, minority legislative coordinator; and Nancy Neilen, clerk. Mr. BRADEMAS. The Select Subcommittee on Education of the House Committee on Education and Labor will come to order. I am most pleased to welcome to Indiana and the district which I represent my distinguished colleagues of the Select Subcommittee on Education of the House Education and Labor Committee. On my far left is my friend and Hoosier colleague, Congressman Earl F. Landgrebe, of Indiana's Second District. Next to Congressman Landgrebe is Congressman Orval Hansen, of the State of Idaho. Next to Congressmen Hansen is the ranking minority member of our subcommittee, Congressman Ogden R. Reid, of New York. On my right is Congressman Lloyd Meeds from the State of Washington, prime sponsor of the bill under consideration today. The subject of these hearings today is H.R. 9312, the Drug Abuse Education Act of 1969, a bill introduced by Congressman Lloyd Meeds, and nearly 100 Members of the House of Representatives of both parties. Such wide sponsorship indicates the great interest in Congress in developing effective approaches to solving the problem of the abuse of dangerous drugs. Reports almost daily reflect the rising urgency of the drug abuse question. For example, members of our subcommittee were alarmed. to learn that during the month of June 1969, alone, over 100 persons with an average age of 22 died in New York City from the use of heroin. The Drug Abuse Education Act is aimed at working through our educational institutions, particularly our elementary and secondary schools, to attack the increasingly serious problem of the abuse of dangerous drugs. The bill would grant Federal funds to local schools for drug education projects as well as support programs to train teachers, counselors, and others to teach such courses. In addition, the bill would make funds available for community seminars on drug abuse and for research and curriculum development in drug abuse education. During the hearings which we have been conducting over the last several weeks, we have heard from many authorities on the subject of drug abuse education. The testimony which we have received from educators, students, judges, lawyers, medical authorities, national organizations, civic groups, and others has strongly supported the proposal. Typical of the testimony in support of the Drug Abuse Education Act is that of the American Medical Association. Dr. Henry Brill, a chairman of the AMA's Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, stated that this bill would provide an opportunity for a well coordinated and scientifically developed program of drug abuse eduIcation and information. He said that the leadership of the U.S. Office of Education in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare would bring assurance that our teachers and our schools would become directly involved in attacking the problem of drug abuse. Our subcommittee has also learned from the hearings that the Federal Government has, so far, done almost nothing in providing support for education on the abuse of dangerous drugs. The Federal Government supports: No program for teacher training in the drug abuse field; no direct grants to our schools for drug education courses; no means of testing and evaluating existing materials for drug abuse education. The bill we are today considering aims at filling the education gap in the drug abuse field. For the abuse of drugs is no longer solely a police or medical problem. It has now developed into a grave threat to the health and well-being of millions of Americans, both young and old. Nor do drugs have any respect for race, economic background, or area of the country. Although our subcommittee has held hearings on this bill in Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, and Seattle, the problem of the use of dangerous drugs-especially by young people-affects smaller towns and cities and rural communities as well. Therefore, we are meeting in South Bend this morning and Warsaw this afternoon to hear from persons in northern Indiana concerned with the drug problem. Let me add that since the inception of these hearings, I have been encouraged to see that various individuals and groups have undertaken efforts to educate their own communities on drugs and the dangers arising from their abuse. I have been particularly impressed with the work undertaken by the Times-Union in Warsaw. The articles which have been carried in this newspaper have been most useful in drawing public attention to this problem. The chairman would like to observe we have a fairly lengthy list of witnesses this morning representing different walks of life and we want to give all of the members of the subcommittee an opportunity to hear them and put questions to them. If any of the members of the subcommittee has any further comment that he would like to make before the chairman calls the first witness, please feel free to do so at this time. Mr. Meeds. Mr. MEEDS. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to say that I as one member of the subcommittee, and I am sure the other members, am honored to be here in your congressional district, and to commend you on your leadership in this fight in the drug abuse field, and in bringing a ray of light through education to this problem. This bill has been one of the most thoroughly considered by a subcommittee I have served on and this is largely through your leadership and understanding of the problem. We are here, as you stated, because the drug abuse problem is different in different areas. We have covered the coastline of America and now we are in the heartland. It is an honor and a privilege to be in your congressional district. Mr. BRADEMAS. Thank you. Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to acknowledge with deep appreciation the great hospitality that has been extended to us in this visit to the Hoosier State and the great contribution this State has made to the full House Education and Labor Committee. The chairmanship of this committee, Mr. Brademas, has furnished constructive leadership and also my colleagues on my side of the aisle, Earl Landgrebe, with whom it has been my privilege to serve as a freshman Member of Congress, has been a great strength in furnishing leadership in the areas we are tackling under this committee. I will state further, Mr. Chairman, addressing myself to the probblem before us, my interest is drawn to this legislation primarily because of the dramatic and dangerous threat that drug abuse poses to an entire generation, the younger generation of our country. The increase of the use of drugs among young people particularly has been, according to estimates made by witnesses before this committee, on the average of 30 to 50 percent a year. At that rate, if there is no reversal in that trend, a majority of the young persons between the ages of 12 and 21 will be involved in drug use within the next few years. Our effort therefore has been twofold. We need to press forward on the law enforcement front to prosecute and punish the offenders, the peddlers. Also, perhaps more importantly, we need to move ahead with effective programs of education to make young people understand the dangers of drug abuse and to understand more clearly the effects that we have seen in the evidence produced before us; broken health, wasted lives, and even death resulting from drug abuse. Our effort here is on the education front and we are grateful for the willingness of so many people to come to assist us, as they have indicated by their presence before the subcommittee this morning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. BRADEMAS. Thank you, Mr. Hansen. Mr. LANDGREBE. I think I would be somewhat amiss if I did not extend a word of welcome to our colleagues from New York, Idaho, and Washington, and while this is your home territory, I would like to feel that Indiana, every bit of it, is my home territory too, and also to the staff members that have made this trip to Indiana. Now, I am sure that the fact that marihuana grows rather lushly in this part of the country has nothing to do with having this meeting here. It is just coincidence. Mr. BRADEMAS. Thank you. Mr. REID. Mr. Chairman, I too wish to say how delighted I am to be here in the State of Indiana this morning, and to thank our distinguished chairman, John Brademas, and Earl Landgrebe, for their very warm hospitality, and say how appreciative we are of the opportunity to be here. I would further add that both John Brademas and Earl Landgrebe have done a tremendous job for the State of Indiana. They are articulate and are working very hard in a number of areas, the least of which is drug abuse education. I would note with regard to our being here this morning that the legislation being considered is bipartisan. The Nixon Administration has stated they are in complete agreement with the objectives of this legislation, although there are some differences. I am also happy to say that the Administration will seek substantial increases in funds to combat drug addiction and provide for education in the whole field of drug abuse. Lastly, I hope that in these hearings we will focus in part on the question my colleague Earl Landgrebe has just referred to, marihuana. I am far from convinced that marihuana should be treated in the same category as the dangerous drugs, and certainly I think it is much more of a medical question than a criminal or punitive one. I noted yesterday in Washington that the head of the Drug Abuse Section of the National Institute of Mental Health pointed out his very real concern over the question of marihuana being lumped with dangerous drugs. I think this committee will try and seek some answers and not to necessarily go along with what has been the approach in the past of the Congress to treat marihuana the same as dangerous drugs. Again I would like to thank our chairman, to say how fortunate you are to have his strong leadership in the Congress of the United States. Mr. BRADEMAS. I thank my colleagues for their generous observations. I would like to call our first witness at this time, Sgt. Robert W. Miller of the South Bend Police force. STATEMENT OF SGT. ROBERT W. MILLER, POLICE COMMUNITY RELATIONS DIVISION, POLICE DEPARTMENT, SOUTH BEND, IND. Sergeant MILLER. My name is Sgt. Robert Miller. I have been a member of the South Bend Police Department for a few months less than 20 years. My main job on the department for all this time has been as an educational officer in the school system for both public and parochial schools, in the teaching of traffic safety and in the last few years in the educational program on drugs and narcotics. If I may, I will read the statement that I made. I have read House bill H.R. 9312 and have arrived at the following opinions: H.R. bill 9312 basically covers the important needs at this time to conduct a well-rounded educational program for both our young adults and general public. A drug education program in our schools will only be helpful if it becomes a part of the regular school curriculum from kindergarten through high school. However, before this can be done, a very thorough training program for very carefully selected teachers to discuss this subject will have to be instituted. The drug problem in our Nation is steadily growing and for the most part our teachers on the elementary and high school level are woefully unprepared to handle it. The same problem exists on the law enforcement level. Much more training and information is urgently needed before we can teach anyone with any lasting results. We need a more controlled method of obtaining information from the schools and general public in order to analyze the drug problem in each of our communities and to set up a course of action to overcome it. Serious consideration should be given to set up, in each major community, an information center where the public may seek, without fear of public embarrassment, information and guidance on ways and means to approach their individual problem. In most cases this is a fearful and embarrassing situation for the person and much tact and patience on the part of the referral agency is needed in order to solve the problem. Careful consideration should be given by the news media that only bonafide information be given out in newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV releases. Too often this information is tailored to fit the particular writer's viewpoint and many times this is confusing to the uninformed public or the teenager who is looking for a justification to continue to use drugs. If we are going to solve this growing menace to our society we must all and particularly our public officials, be they government, school, police, or community leaders, pull our heads out of the sand and admit that a serious drug abuse problem does exist in our community at most levels and band together on a concentrated program to eliminate it before it destroys our very existence and society as we know it. Mr. BRADEMAS. Thank you very much, Sergeant Miller. Do you know what is provided in Indiana law, if anything, in the way of support for education in the public schools of the State in the use of dangerous drugs? Sergeant MILLER. As I understand and have seen in some of the instruction books, there are, I think, about three or four chapters in the health program on drugs and narcotics. Most of this is conducted by the teachers in the health classes with the assistance of outside people such as physicians, police officers, nurses, people whom they feel can come in and talk to students and discuss it with them. Mr. BRADEMAS. I take it from your statement that you suggest that elementary and high school teachers, at least in this community, are not well prepared to provide instruction in this general area, and you go ahead and say that neither are law enforcement personnel. Where do you train someone in this field, where do you receive in |