One often hears assertions that we ought to legalize drugs because the flood of drugs coming in is so strong and the number of users is so great that we cannot hope to succeed. It hasn t happened. Most Americans would be surprised to learn that the Coast Guard spends a little less than a fifth of our operating budget on drug interdiction about the same as we allocate for fisheries enforcement. That s precisely the level we ve been directed and licensed to apply to the problem. The fact of the matter is that we have terrific results for the resources that have been devoted to the task.
Interdiction is both necessary and feasible.
But so are our other missions. We do not let the enormity of the challenge of keeping oil out of the water dissuade us from building an effective national program to do so. And we should not let the difficulty of the task of reducing the flow of illegal drugs deter us from that vital task, either. The task requires constancy of resolve and perseverance. But it can be achieved.