GAO

United States General Accounting Office

A

Testimony

Before the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and 

Homeland Security, Committee on the Judiciary, House of 

Representatives

For Release on Delivery

Expected at 4:00 p.m. EDT

Tuesday, July 6, 2004

DRUG REHABILITATION 

CLINICS

Illegal Drug Activities Near 

Some District of Columbia 

Clinics Undermine Clinic 

Services and Patient 

Rehabilitation

Statement of Robert J. Cramer, Managing Director

Office of Special Investigations

GAO-04-946T
Page 1 GAO-04-946T 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

I am pleased to appear before you today to summarize the results of our 

investigation, performed at your request, of street narcotic sales in the 

vicinity of certain drug rehabilitation clinics in the District of Colombia. To 

obtain an overview of the problem, we conducted physical surveillance of 

five clinics in the District of Columbia and interviewed clinic personnel and 

law enforcement officials. In brief, we found that a significant amount of 

illegal drug trafficking activity takes place around these clinics. Patients 

frequently must navigate their way through a virtual bazaar of illegal drug 

dealing when they enter and exit the facilities. 

Background From April 2003 through June 2004, criminal investigators from the Office 

of Special Investigations (OSI) at the U.S. General Accounting Office 

conducted surveillance at and around five drug rehabilitation clinics in the 

District of Columbia—the OASIS Clinic at 910 Bladensburg Rd., NE; the 

D.C. General Hospital at 1900 Massachusetts Ave., SE; the Model Treatment 

Program at 1300 First St., NE; the United Planning Organization 

Comprehensive Treatment Center at 333 N St., NE; and the Department of 

Veterans Affairs Substance Abuse Program at 40 Patterson St., NE. The 

OSI criminal investigators who conducted these surveillances have many 

years of experience in the investigation of criminal activity, including illegal 

street sales of narcotics. Most of these clinics are located in nonresidential 

areas and are surrounded by parking lots, vacant lots, warehouses and 

some stores. On a daily basis, clinics in the Washington, D.C. area treat 

thousands of patients for a variety of substance abuse problems. We also 

interviewed personnel at three of the five clinics, detectives from the major 

narcotics branch of the Metropolitan Washington D.C. Police Department 

(MPD), and prosecutors from the U. S. Attorney’s office in the District of 

Columbia. We conducted our work in accordance with quality standards 

for investigations as set forth by the President’s Council on Integrity and 

Efficiency. 

Drug Trafficking 

Observed at Drug 

Rehabilitation Clinics

Certain typical patterns of street activity are commonly associated with 

illegal street sales of drugs. Such activity includes, for example, a group of 

people, consisting of one or more drug dealers and their associates, who 

loiter in a particular area day after day. Typically, individuals who act as 

“lookouts,” to protect the dealers from possible law enforcement 

interdiction or even territorial encroachment by rival drug dealers, 
Page 2 GAO-04-946T 

occasionally walk away from the group and later walk back to re-join it. In 

addition, customers walk up to such groups and exchange money for drugs 

in hand-to-hand transactions, or walk away with someone in the group to 

complete a drug transaction in another location, or circle their vehicles 

near locations where the group congregates, slowing down to make 

contact with narcotics sellers. To the untrained eye, such contacts may 

appear to be innocent encounters between acquaintances, but in reality, the 

participants are engaging in illicit transactions involving exchanges of 

money for drugs. 

During more than 50 visits to these clinics, investigators observed these 

types of activities and others that are indications of drug trafficking. For 

example, the investigators saw groups of individuals who were loitering in 

parking lots or near banks of telephones, stores, and at bus stops in the 

vicinity of the clinics. During our visits, we observed some of the same 

people on repeated occasions. Individuals who appeared to serve as 

lookouts would wander away from a group and later re-join it. In addition, 

people driving vehicles would circle the locations where these groups 

congregated, slowing down to speak with people on the street. The 

investigators observed people from the street groups repeatedly entering 

and exiting vehicles that pulled up to them, meeting other people on the 

street and engaging in hand to hand contact, or walking away with them, 

sometimes entering a store with them and subsequently leaving the store 

without any visible sign that either person had made a purchase in the 

store. Some of the drug dealers at these locations were brazen about their 

activities. For instance, on three occasions, dealers approached an OSI 

investigator and asked if he wanted to buy drugs. 

On one occasion, our investigators observed an individual walking back 

and forth on the streets near a clinic, stopping to engage in conversation 

with many different people. Over a period of approximately 45 minutes, the 

investigators observed the same individual continue this activity on several 

streets with various people who were walking on the street, or who 

stopped to speak with him as they were driving by in automobiles. Before 

leaving the area that day, the investigators observed this individual open a 

door of a parked automobile, pull out a small brown paper bag, and hand it 

to another person who gave him cash. The investigators then observed this 

individual count the money that had been handed to him. 

One clinic is located in an isolated area near a bus stop. There are no 

stores, residences, or other businesses in the area other than the clinic. We 

learned from local police officials that the bus stop is known as a place at 
Page 3 GAO-04-946T 

which illegal drug activity frequently takes place. We viewed a videotape 

made by local police of a drug transaction that took place at the bus stop, in 

which an undercover officer purchased narcotics. The officer made the 

purchase from someone who, while appearing to be waiting for a bus, sold 

drugs to the officer from a bag she carried. When OSI investigators 

observed the bus stop, approximately eight to ten people were sitting at the 

stop and appeared to be waiting for a bus. When a bus pulled up to the stop, 

however, none of the people who were sitting there got on board. As the 

investigators continued to watch, they observed other people approach the 

individuals who were seated at the bus stop, engage in conversation 

followed by hand-to-hand contact, and then walk away.

Adjacent to another clinic is a McDonald’s restaurant that is known as the 

“McPharmacy” to local law enforcement officials who have reported that 

there is a high level of illegal drug activity in its vicinity. Local police 

detectives reported that the area surrounding the restaurant and clinic is a 

magnet for persons throughout the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area 

seeking to buy and sell narcotics. As a result, local police, federal law 

enforcement agencies, and police departments in Maryland and Virginia 

cooperate in investigating illegal drug sales in the area. In fact, a “sting” 

operation conducted in the area last year resulted in the conviction of 

several drug dealers. On repeated visits to this location, investigators saw 

many vehicles in the parking lot of the restaurant with tags from several 

different states and the District of Colombia. However, most of the 

vehicles’ occupants remained in the lot and were not observed to enter or 

leave or otherwise do business with the restaurant. Also, investigators 

observed numerous individuals who stood around a bank of pay telephones 

near the restaurant. As the individuals stood there, various people walked 

up to them or drove up in cars. Investigators saw that many of the people 

who approached the individuals near the telephones handed something to, 

and received something back from, these individuals. Although the 

investigators were unable to observe what these people exchanged, on one 

occasion they observed that cash was exchanged for a small bag. This 

activity is consistent with the typical patterns of street-level illegal 

narcotics sales that I discussed earlier.
Page 4 GAO-04-946T 

Clinic Personnel 

Confirm That 

Significant Drug 

Trafficking Takes Place 

Near Clinics

We also interviewed personnel at three of the clinics who confirmed that 

there is extensive illegal drug dealing activity in the vicinity of their clinics. 

A director at one clinic stated that he receives at least one complaint each 

day from patients who are solicited by drug dealers outside the clinic. The 

director reported that it is especially difficult for these patients, who are 

struggling with addiction, to resist the temptations offered by the drug 

dealers who confront them on a daily basis outside the clinic. To alleviate 

this situation, the clinic changed its hours of operation so that more 

patients can enter and leave the clinic early in the day when drug dealers 

are less likely to be outside. Additionally, the clinic’s program director does 

not permit patients to remain for more than 15 minutes outside the clinic. 

The program supervisor at another clinic told us that each month, at least 

one patient reports being assaulted in the vicinity of the clinic and robbed 

of methadone.

Concluding Remarks In conclusion, significant drug trafficking takes place in the vicinity of the 

drug clinics we visited. Although these clinics are intended to help those in 

need of rehabilitation, patients who seek treatment must navigate their way 

to and from the clinics in an environment in which illegal sales of narcotics 

are daily occurrences. The efforts of patients who are seeking 

rehabilitation, and clinic professionals who serve them, are significantly 

undermined by the criminal activity that surrounds them.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be pleased to 

respond to any questions that you or the other Members of the 

Subcommittee may have at this time. 

Contact Information 

and Acknowledgments

For further information regarding this testimony, please contact Robert J. 

Cramer at (202) 512-7455 or George Ogilvie at (202) 512-9226. 

(601240)
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