191. Summary of a Meeting1 2
SUMMARY, NARCOTIC MEETING, STATE DINING ROOM, JUNE 3, 1971
President told group that interdepartmental cooperation in the drug area will now be required. Crapping around will not be tolerated.
President expressed intention that the U.S. will get one notch tougher than did the Japanese by cracking down on pushers. If Japanese can do it, we can do it.
President announced that a new tough, ruthless, line-drawing administrator who knows the drug area will be brought in to run all drug programs.
President declares that we have tried to persuade our allies, Turkey and France, of the importance of heroin traffic to the U.S. We will be tough with our allies now and will put more emphasis on solving the problem, than on diplomatic niceties. We will not temporize anymore. All departments are to move vigorously now.
President expressed concern that some of the public, especially some employers, view the Vietnam veteran as a ruthless killer and a junkie, and therefore he cannot get a job. This image must be changed. President asked the attendees to view the collage of TV tapes on the drug problem in the military in order to get an idea of how 60 million Americans may be perceiving the problem.
President talked about the disagreement over whether marihuana leads to heroin addiction. He maintained that if you look at the number of addicts who used marihuana first, that the relationship would be clear. At any rate, the President asserted that the line has to be drawn somewhere, and he is drawing it at marihuana.
President wants exploration of the utility of harsher penalties for pushers in interstate commerce-not addict pushers-up to and including the death penalty. Will be in new legislation package. President hastened to add that if penalties are too severe, that judges would not convict.
Mr. Ingersoll gave an extensive overview of heroin trafficking, growth in incidence of addiction domestically, including death rates, growth in military narcotic investigations, and discharges due to narcotic violations and increased seizures.
[Page 2]Secretary Connally pledges support of Treasury, including IRS, to help with the problem. Complimented joint action group on Vietnam. IRS agents are now helping Vietnamese. Connally believes we should not tolerate allies who will produce opium which leads to the destruction of American youth. He believes that for $3 million a year, the U.S. can buy Turkish opium crops until substitute crops are introduced.
Secretary Laird stated that the military has and is working diligently on the problem of addiction in Vietnam. The services differ on the role of discipline, but now all services agree that the military has the responsibility of treating addicts.
DOD is planning to introduce urine testing at two bases in Vietnam and will detain servicemen for 5 days in order to run tests. The Army will control these two departure points. Mr. Ehrlichman and Mr. Krogh reported that testing can be done in less than a minute with free radical assay technique.
Secretary Laird suggested that new legislative authority is required in order to detain servicemen in the military for treatment.
Secretary Laird claimed that up until January of 1971, President Thieu was not personally aware of the heroin problem. The President contradicted Thieu’s position, but added this would not be used to confront Thieu. Rather we will assert that Thieu responded immediately to the problem at our request.
President asked Laird if there is one top man at DOD responsible in the drug area. Laird responded that there is, but a doctor will be brought into DOD in July to head up the program.
Mr. Johnson talked about the need to expand V.A. budgets for the capacity exists to take on more addicts. He emphasized the importance and the need to resolve the issue of dischargees’ eligibility for V. A. treatment. In response to Presidential question, Johnson reported that of the 50,000 addict veterans, 5,000 are Vietnam era which is 1% of those who served.
Mr. Johnson reported that 80% of the addicts treated by V. A. are on methadone. There is some success. He emphasized the importance of jobs for the addicts, and therefore has started a program whereby patients can establish a job record.
In response to the President’s question on timing, Mr. Krogh reported that a legislative package would be ready in two weeks. The President asked [Page 3] that the new initiatives be kept secret.
President related the fact that a high percentage of doctor’s wives are addicts and then to a lesser extent doctors themselves are addicted and then nurses. Psychiatrists have the highest rate of addiction, and therefore this is a situation of the blind leading the blind. President asked Secretary Richardson to initiate a program whereby doctors would be trained so as not to over-prescribe drugs.
President emphasized a number of times that this is not a problem peculiar to the military, but a problem of the U.S. Therefore, the meeting includes involved departments beyond DOD. President expressed concern that narcotics would be an issue used by adversaries of our Vietnam policy to impugn the military. So, narcotics is a political as well as a real issue. President pledges his continued support to the military.
President urged all to meet the responsibility of this new challenge to the military and society. He recommended all read his speech given at West Point which indicates that there is much right with America, and that he will defend the military.
[Page 4]- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 358, Subject Files, Narcotics III. No classification marking. Appendix A, the list of participants, is taken from the President’s Daily Diary. (Ibid., White House Central Files)↩
- During the meeting, President Nixon emphasized to civilian and military members of his administration his concerns about narcotics addiction.↩