Press Release

 

 

 

As the Representative of Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, and as Co-Founder and Chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Drug Policy, it is an honor and a privilege to commend the Coast Guard – represented in the person of Vice Admiral Robert Papp, Chief of Staff of the United States Coast Guard – for making 2007 a record year for cocaine interdictions.

 

This year, the Coast Guard has removed 355,755 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $4.7 billion from circulation – either by directly seizing the drugs or by causing those who were attempting to smuggle the drugs to the United States to destroy them before the Coast Guard could seize them.

 

This impressive record has included several seizures that were truly staggering in their size. For example, on March 18, the Coast Guard cutters SHERMAN and HAMILTON seized nearly 43,000 pounds – or some two tons – of cocaine from a Panamanian flagged vessel off the coast of Panama.   

 

More importantly, however, this record is a stunning testament to the effectiveness of the 41,000 men and women of the Coast Guard who patrol our nation’s shores and who gather and process intelligence from around the world every single day of the year. I commend these dedicated individuals for their service to our nation.

 

Though our fellow citizens may not often see the Coast Guard at work along America’s 95,000 miles of coastline, be sure that the effects of the service’s essential work ripple down even to our local neighborhoods in Baltimore.

 

Put simply, every ounce of cocaine seized at sea is an ounce that cannot reach our nation’s – or our City’s – streets.

 

Sadly, of course, every ounce that does reach our community threatens to destroy a life. It is estimated that 60,000 of Baltimore’s 650,000 residents are currently drug dependent, mostly abusing heroin and cocaine.

 

However, in 2006, The Washington Post reported that the number of drug-overdose deaths in Baltimore had fallen to the lowest level in 10 years. 

 

These drops have been made possible by on-going efforts at the federal level and at all levels of government to interdict drugs as well as by the enormous efforts undertaken by our City to make many types of drug treatment readily available to those who need it.

 

Our City’s efforts are essential components of the continuum of interventions that must be in place to fight the scourge of drug addiction that threatens the success of our community. 

 

I am honored to commend the City of Baltimore – represented by Deputy Commissioner Anthony Barksdale, who is here from the Baltimore City Police Department, and by Hirsh Goldberg, Public Affairs Officer with the Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems – for its outstanding efforts to combat drug abuse.

I’m sure that everyone here remembers the terrible lows we reached in 1996, when Baltimore had the highest rate of drug-related ER visits in the nation and when AIDS became the leading cause of death among Black men and the second-leading cause of death among Black women.

 

In the past decade, our City has mounted a truly remarkable effort against the crisis that drugs have created in our community. Funding for drug treatment nearly tripled, from $18 million in 1996 to $53 million last year. 

 

As a result, the City’s drug treatment slots for the uninsured or under-insured residents rose 62 percent, from 5,136 to 8,295. In 2005 alone, 23,000 people received drug treatment in publicly supported clinics through approximately 28,000 “treatment episodes.”

 

At the same time, the Baltimore City Police Department has increased cocaine seizures in 2007 by 38 percent over last year and has made 6,856 felony drug arrests this year.

 

However, our fight against drugs is far from over. We have made progress – but much work remains ahead to keep drugs off our streets and to break the terrible cycle of addiction that threatens yet another generation.

 

Be sure that winning this fight remains my highest priority – and I will continue to support all of the complementary efforts that are needed to rid our communities of this affliction.

 

We cannot effectively eradicate this problem simply by locking away drug dealers and users or by only targeting supplies. Rather, we must tackle this issue from all fronts – including prevention, treatment, supply reduction, and law enforcement – in order to be successful.

 

As Subcommittee Chairman, I will continue to support the Coast Guard’s essential efforts to keep drugs from ever reaching our shores. 

 

Like so many of the agencies of the federal government, the Coast Guard is undergoing profound changes and it has added significant new responsibilities for port and maritime security after the terrible events of 9/11.

 

Our Subcommittee is committed to being a strong partner to help the Coast Guard, under the capable leadership of its Commandant, Admiral Thad Allen, make the transformations it needs to balance these critical missions – so that the service is fully prepared to defend us from all of the threats that approach us from the sea, including the continuing threat of illicit drugs.

 

I will also continue to support expanded funding for treatment and to support efforts that facilitate the re-integration of ex-offenders into our community.

 

Put simply, while we celebrate an important victory today, we must continue to fight the battle of illegal drugs from every angle. 

 

 

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