Summary: The development of a comprehensive, cohesive Federal narcotics enforcement policy must involve all aspects of the criminal justice system: investigation, prosecution, adjudication, conviction, and sentencing. It must be on an international as well as a national level. It is the Federal Government's strategy to allocate resources to combat the most dangerous drugs of abuse, to go after high-level traffickers, to seek convictions under the statutes that provide longer periods of incarceration and forfeiture of criminal assets, and to have those Federal agencies concerned with drugs working together. The drug enforcement problem lies not in formulating, but in implementing this strategy. However, prison terms are not adequate, efforts to achieve forfeiture of criminal assets have not always been aggressive, drug investigations have not always been directed at the largest trafficking organizations, and the Federal agencies involved do not always work together. If further significant advances are to be made in the fight against drugs, some means must be found to ensure that a sound strategy is accompanied by effective implementation. Several recently issued GAO reports addressed a need to effectively implement the Federal supply reduction strategy, crack down on clandestine laboratories manufacturing dangerous drugs, and increase the efforts to obtain the forfeiture of assets gained through criminal activities. Federal efforts to control illegal drug traffic have been weak and ineffective. There needs to be a centralized focal point within the executive branch to establish drug policy and to be accountable for its implementation. GAO endorses the thrust of the proposed Comprehensive Drug Penalty Act of 1981 insofar as it enhances the ability of the Department of Justice to effectively use forfeiture. However, the bill does not provide any criteria for granting a seizure order, and it is questionable how some of the other provisions of the Act will be implemented by the courts.
