I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2134 
To establish the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 28, 2009 
Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. MACK, Mr. BERMAN, Mrs. BONO MACK, Mr. 
DELAHUNT, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. WEXLER, and Mr. PIERLUISI) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary and 
Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy 
Commission. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere 
Drug Policy Commission Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) While the United States accounts for ap-
proximately 5 percent of world population, in 2007, 
an estimated 17.2 percent of the world’s users of il-
legal drugs were from the United States. 
(2) 100 percent of the United States cocaine 
supply and 90 percent of the United States heroin 
supply originates in the Andean countries of Bolivia, 
Colombia and Peru. 
(3) In those source countries, the cultivation, 
production and trafficking of cocaine and heroin 
generate violence, instability and corruption. 
(4) In the transit countries of Central America, 
Mexico, Ecuador, Haiti and other Caribbean na-
tions, drug trafficking is central to the growing 
strength of organized criminal gangs that threaten 
local and national law enforcement, political institu-
tions and citizen security. 
(5) Organized criminal cartels in Mexico are en-
gaged in a civil conflict with each other and a con-
flict with Mexican counterdrug security forces. These 
cartels control the wholesale of virtually all cocaine 
trafficked into major urban areas in the United 
States. 
(6) Drug-related violence is on the rise in Mex-
ico and along the United States-Mexico border. 
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5,661 people died in Mexico in 2008 alone as a re-
sult of drug-related violence. This is more than dou-
ble the 2007 total of 2,773. 
(7) From 1980–2008, United States counter-
narcotics assistance from the State and Defense De-
partments to Latin America and the Caribbean to-
taled about $11,300,000,000. The Drug Enforce-
ment Administration (DEA) has spent an additional 
$2,500,000,000 in the Western Hemisphere during 
the same period. In those same years, the number 
of lifetime drug users has steadily risen for mari-
juana, cocaine, and heroin. In 1982 there were an 
estimated 53,000 marijuana users, which doubled to 
over 100,000 in 2007. Similarly, there were fewer 
than 22,000 cocaine users and fewer than 2,000 her-
oin users in 1982, while today there are approxi-
mately 36,000 and 3,800, respectively. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF WESTERN HEMISPHERE DRUG 
POLICY COMMISSION. 
There is established an independent commission to be 
known as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commis-
sion’’ (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 
SEC. 4. PURPOSE. 
The Commission shall review and evaluate United 
States illicit drug supply policy, with particular emphasis 
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on international drug policies and programs directed to-
ward the countries of the Western Hemisphere and de-
mand reduction policies and programs. The Commission 
shall identify policy and program options to improve exist-
ing international and domestic counternarcotics policy. 
SEC. 5. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 
(a) REVIEW OF ILLICIT DRUG SUPPLY REDUCTION 
AND DEMAND REDUCTION POLICIES.—The Commission 
shall conduct a comprehensive review of United States il-
licit drug supply reduction and demand reduction policies 
and shall, at a minimum, address the following topics: 
(1) An assessment of the effectiveness of 
United States international illicit drug control poli-
cies in the Western Hemisphere, including interdic-
tion, crop eradication, and alternative development. 
(2) The impact of Plan Colombia and the 
Merida Initiative in curbing drug trafficking and 
drug-related violence in the Andean region, Mexico, 
Central America, Haiti, and the Dominican Repub-
lic. 
(3) An assessment of how to better use avail-
able technology to target major drug cartels. 
(4) The impact of the United States drug cer-
tification process in achieving positive results with 
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respect to reducing drug production, cultivation, and 
trafficking. 
(5) An assessment of the nature and extent of 
the United States demand for illicit drugs. 
(6) An assessment of United States drug pre-
vention and treatment programs, including drug 
courts and programs aimed at preventing recidivism. 
(7) An assessment of the extent to which the 
consumption of illicit drugs in the United States is 
driven by individuals addicted to or abusive of illicit 
drugs, and the most effective experiences in the 
United States and throughout the world in treating 
those addicts. 
(8) Recommendations on how best to improve 
United States illicit drug supply and demand reduc-
tion policies. 
(b) COORDINATION WITH GOVERNMENTS, INTER-
NATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS, AND
NONGOVERNMENTAL 
ORGANIZATIONS
(NGOS) 
IN
THE
WESTERN
HEMI-
SPHERE.—The Commission shall consult with— 
(1) government and nongovernmental leaders, 
as well as leaders from international organizations, 
from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean; 
and 
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