NATIONAL DRUG ENFORCEMENT POLICY BOARD MEETING, 24 APRIL 1985

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00443R001704300024-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2011
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: April 24, 1985
• Content Type: MEMO

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xecutive Secretory
14 APR 1985
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24 April 1985
MEMORANDUM FOR: National Intelligence Officer for Narcotics
FROM: Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT: National Drug Enforcement Policy Board Meeting,
24 April 1985
Executive Registry
85- 1677/1
1. There is to be a working group of the Drug Enforcement Policy Board
which will meet every month or so, with a board meeting every three months
or so. You are to represent me on the working group at the first meeting
in 30-45 days, exact date to be determined. Every member is to present a
narcotics threat assessment and a rundown on the resources committed to
various functions and relationships in the narcotics target.
2. George Shultz suggested the need for a narcotics incident management
group comparable to the terrorist incident management group. It would deal
with events like the incident in Mexico of several weeks ago. The discussion
seemed to indicate that perhaps the same group could handle crisis management
for narcotics and terrorist incidents.
3. I attach two pieces of paper the Attorney General handed out at the
meeting, one calling for recommendations of the working group on new policy,
and legislation to address the designer drug problem.
William J. Casey
ET
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NATIONAL DRUG ENFORCECaiT POLICY BOAPD
Issue: Statistics on Federal Drug Seizures
Discussion:
Efforts by the Federal Government to measure the effectiveness of
its drug enforcement program have been severely hampered by the lack of
centrally gathered statistics on Federal drug seizures. Historically,
each agency involved in drug seizures has kept its own figures. This
suits the needs of the agencies to record their individual accomplish-
ments, but it has resulted in substantial overlapping of data among
agencies.
A hundred tons of marijuana, for example, seized by the Coast Guard
with the assistance of the U.S. Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement
Administration, are often logged on each agency's books for the full
amount: each system shows a hundred-ton seizure in its database.
As a result, efforts to total the seizures recorded by all Federal
agencies have produced figures that reflect double- or triple-counting
in many cases. Without a data collection system that will prevent such
errors, the Federal Government is unable to gather reliable statistics
for the total amount of drugs it seizes.
Protxosal :
Because this is an interagency issue that affects the ability of
the Federal Government to assess the effectiveness of its drug
enforcement efforts, accounting for drug seizures would be an appro-
priate problem for the National Drug Enforcement Policy Board to examine
and resolve. The focus would be on developing a system that would
compile Federal drug seizure data in a manner that is both reliable and
cost effective.
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Issue: Designer Drugs
Discussion:
The term "designer drugs" refers to new substances that are chem-
ically similar to drugs already subject to the Controlled Substances
Act. By making slight chemical alterations, a producer can create new
drugs that have the effect of controlled substances, but are not in
violation of the Act.
The new catipounds can be developed and marketed very quickly, and
as soon as they are identified by the Government and put under emergency
scheduling controls, the clandestine laboratories could simply introduce
another modification to circumvent the law. If this cycle should occur,
law enforcement would always be one step behind the producers, and the
toll on public health would escalate as the supply of unscheduled drugs
increased.
The profit incentive for the production of designer drugs is
exceptionally strong: it has been estimated that a small, reasonably
well-equipped lab, with college-trained chemists, can produce $2 million
worth of synthetic heroin on a $500 investment in chemicals. It would
be reasonable to expect such a lucrative enterprise to attract an
increasing number of producers, particularly if they are not subject to
the penalties of the Controlled Substances Act.
The ease with which labs can produce large quantities of designer
drugs means that increasing amounts of substitutes for controlled
substances may arrive in the marketplace. Reportedly, a single chemist
working full-time could produce enough synthetic heroin to keep the
entire country's addicts supplied indefinitely. Sane heroin substitutes
widely available on the West Coast are hundreds of times more powerful
than morphine, and serious neurological damage and even death have
resulted from their use.
Given their availability, potency, and ambiguous legal status,
designer drugs could easily became the drug of choice for many users.
This has caught the interest of the media and the Congress, and bills
have been introduced in both the House and the Senate that would require
the Policy Board to assess the problem and submit recommendations to
Congress.
Proposal :
In view of the urgency of the designer drug problem and the need
for new policy and legislation to address it, the Policy Board should
adopt this as an issue and request the recamnendations of the Working
Group.
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JGI+AC.l l
The Director of Central Intelligence
Washington, D.C. 20505
National Intelligence Council
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
NIC-02134-85
23 April 1985
Charles E. Allen
National Intelligence Officer for Counterterrorism and
Narcotics
SUBJECT: National Drug Enforcement Policy Board Meeting, 24 April 1935
1. I have reviewed the agenda and background materials for the first
National Drug Policy Board Meeting and offer the following to prepare you for
the meeting. The purpose of the Policy Board is to improve policy development
and coordination among Federal agencies by:
-- Reviewing, evaluating, and developing US Government policy strategy and
resources with respect to drug law enforcement.
-- Facilitating coordination of all US Government efforts against the
international drug trade.
-- Coordinating the collection and evaluation of information necessary to
implement US drug enforcement policy.
2. As you know, the Intelligence Community operates under the authority
of Executive Order 12333 in collecting, analyzing, and disseminating
intelligence on foreign aspects of narcotics production to support the
international objectives of the National Strategy for Prevention of Drug Abuse
and Drug Trafficking. In accordance with law, the Community also provides
direct support for Federal law enforcement activities called for in the
National Strategy. Here are some points to consider regarding the Community's
ongoing support for narcotics control policy, interagency interdiction
efforts, and drug enforcement challenges we are currently addressing.
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Narcotics Control Policy
-- To support the requirements of the International Narcotics Control
Strategy Report, CIA's Directorate of Intelligence continues to issue crop
production estimates based for the major narcotics
producing countries. The NIO for Narcotics ensures that recommendations
for such crop estimates are coordinated with State/INM, DEA, and
appropriate representatives of other agencies. The NIO also reviews the
priorities assigned to these estimates to ensure that they take into
account the changing operations and policy needs of consumers.
-- In response to policymaker needs, the Community has begun to expand the
scope of narcotics intelligence to address the totality of the drug
problem. For example, we have an NIE underway to address the national
security implications of the drug trade for the United States, and another
examines all foreign dimensions of the cocaine trade. Within CIA, a major
effort has been initiated to develop an understanding of trafficking
organizations, patterns, and infrastructures in producing and transit
countries. Increased attention is also being given to identifying
opportunities for drug control and to assessing the effects of narcotics
activity and drug abuse on public attitudes and national policies in
producing and consuming countries. Scheduled production on foreign
narcotics issues, both within the Intelligence Community as well as by the
intelligence components of other agencies, is reviewed periodically by the
NIO for Narcotics to ensure that there is consensus within the Community
on the priority asigned to the production of finished narcotics
intelligence.
Interagency Interdiction
-- All three major collection disciplines--HUMINT, SIGINT, and Imagery--are
being tasked to provide foreign intelligence support to Federal law
enforcement initiatives, and information is now flowing between the
Intelligence and Law Enforcement Communities at an unprecedented rate.
-- Representatives from the Offices of General Counsel of the Intelligence
Community meet regularly with Justice a artm jtofficials to review the
practical problems associated w t t e dissemina n of intelligence to
law enforcement aggpcies and to discuss the protection of intelligence
sources and methods during criminal investigations and criminal
prosecutions.
-- The Memorandum of Understanding signed by you and the Attorney General in
April 1984 covering "Procedures Governing Conduct and Coordination by CIA
and DEA of Narcotics Activities Abroad" lays out procedures for a broad
range of activities and concerns involving the two agencies and provides
an effective instrument for dealing with a number of potential
coordination problems.
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-- Several personnel assignments during the last two years have markedly
improved the intelligence coordination process between the Community and
several law enforcement agencies. These include the assignment to the
Vice President's Office of a CIA officer to interface with the NIO for
Narcotics on behalf of NNBIS in levying requirements on the Intelligence
Community.
Intelligence Objectives
-- Greater attention must be paid by Community and law enforcement agencies
to the development of comprehensive all-source collection strategies.
-- Within legal constraints, all agencies including intelligence components
of DoD ust continue to:
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