Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–1, Documents on Global Issues, 1969–1972

217. Telegram From the Department of State to all Diplomatic Posts¹ ²

Washington, February 9, 1972.

Paris also for Nesco

AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE TO CHIEFS OF MISSION ON SUBJECT OF INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL

From the outset this Administration has been firmly committed to meeting American’s drug problem.

I was convinced by the experience of my first two years in office that major organizational changes were required.

In September 1971 I appointed Secretary Rogers chairman of a new Cabinet Committee to deal with the international aspects of narcotics control.

On June 17 1971, I established the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention under Dr. Jerome Jaffe to mobilize the attack on the demand side of the problem. On January 28, 1972, I launched a major Federal effort against pushers and domestic traffickers under Mr. Myles Ambrose, my new Special Consultant for Narcotics Law Enforcement.

The task is to make these organizational arrangements work as designed.

Ending drug abuse will require the cooperation of all nations. For this reason I have made effective narcotics control a primary foreign policy objective of the United States.

The State Department’s Senior Adviser and Coordinator for International Narcotics Matters, Mr. Nelson Gross, and other Administration officials at all levels have attempted to convey to foreign governments and our overseas diplomatic missions the determination of the United States to take the necessary steps in cooperation with others to bring narcotics and other dangerous drugs under control.

These efforts are beginning to bear fruit. I am particularly gratified by the courageous decision of the Turkish Government to ban opium cultivation; by the results of Operation Cooperation in Mexico; and by recent successes in narcotics enforcement in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Still, much remains to be done. In many nations narcotics law enforcement is still in its infancy. Better narcotics intelligence is required almost everywhere.

Narcotics Control Action Plans have now been drafted by fifty-seven missions. The key to their successful implementation is to convince the leaders of producing and transit countries to commit their governments to attacking the narcotics problem with urgency and determination.

Your assistance will be critical to this effort. We need your advice on how best to obtain the requisite political commitment from the Government to which you are accredited. If you have not already given us your views we shall appreciate receiving them promptly.

Greater support for multilateral approaches to the drug problem must also be forthcoming. Increased and continuing financial support from other governments for the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control is particularly important.

Strengthening the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 is also a priority objective. In extensive consultations throughout the world, our diplomats have been seeking to promote a consensus on proposed amendments.

Between now and the plenipotentiary conference to be held March sixth through March twenty-fourth, I hope you will continue to stress to policy makers in foreign governments the vital importance of our working together to assure the success of this conference.

I have made it clear many times that the United States stands ready to assist where essential in the worldwide battle against narcotics. Other nations must now be induced to do their part.

I very much appreciate what each of you has done in the past.

I am confident you share my conviction that few projects are more worthy of your personal attention in the future than this campaign to eradicate the scourge of drug abuse.

1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970-73, SOC 11-5. Limited Official Use. Text received from the White House; cleared by Hurwitch, Fessenden, Robert P. Myers (EA), Andre J. Navez (AF), IO/HDC, and Davies; and approved by Wellman. The time of transmission is not indicated. Repeated to USUN New York, the U.S. Mission in Geneva, and Paris for NESCO.
2. The Department provided the text of a message from President Nixon to all U.S. Chiefs of Mission on the subject of international narcotics control.