We can hire thousands of new border guards and drug enforcement officers. But simply dealing with the supply side of this problem will never solve it. That's because our nation's supply side emphasis does not adequately attack the underlying problem. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey understands. Mr. Speaker, General McCaffrey is right and all the studies back him up.
Treatment does work and it is cost-effective.
Last September, the first national study of chemical dependency treatment results confirmed that illegal drug and alcohol use are substantially reduced following treatment. This study, by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, shows that treatment rebuilds lives, puts families back together and restores substance abusers to productivity. According to Dr. Ronald Smith, Captain, Navy Medical Corps and former Vice Chairman of Psychiatry at the National Naval Medical Center, the U.S. Navy substance abuse treatment program has an overall recovery rate of 75 percent. A March 1998 GAO report also surveyed the various studies on the effectiveness of treatment and concluded that treatment is effective and beneficial in the majority of cases. A number of state studies also show that treatment is cost-effective and good preventive medicine.