Reagan’s War on Drugs Updated · Reagan’s War on Drugs ! 2 Dear Delegates, Welcome to the...

UGAMUNC XXII Reagan’s War on Drugs

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UGAMUNC XXII

Reagan’s War on Drugs, Background Guide


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Dear Delegates, Welcome to the Reagan’s War on Drugs Committee! My name is Anna Helgøy, and I will be your crisis director for your committee. I’m a fourth-year student majoring in political science and public relations, and in addition to having been a privileged member of the UGA model UN team for four years. I am serving my second term as the team’s public relations director. This is also my fourth and last time directing an UGAMUNC committee, and I am prepared to make it my best effort yet. Our crises are being run a little differently this year, and this means that although I will be in charge of this committee and plan its direction, I will not be chairing your sessions. That job has been handed to my talented friends and colleagues, Samta Savla and Nicolas Marin. Samta is a fourth-year student studying international affairs, and she has been part of the model UN team for four years. Last year she was actually in charge of UGAMUNC as our Director General – needless to say, she knows a good delegate when she sees one and her expectations are high. Nicolas is currently a sophomore at UGA, majoring in finance and international affairs. It’s his second year on the team and his first year serving as our finance director. I hope you realize that you are in very capable hands. Awards will be a joint decision between the chairs and myself. I am incredibly excited about our topic for this committee: the Reagan administration’s drug policy is one of the most complex, controversial, and interesting string of political decisions in North American and Latin American history. The president’s intense campaign against the use of drugs affected more policy areas than anyone could foresee, touching immigration issues, racial inequality, incarceration, and the spread of American democratic values abroad. In the first weekend of February, we will work through these issues in a variety of ways and endless crisis updates. It will require collaboration, hard work, and individual agendas. At the end you will be exhausted – but hopefully refreshed with a newfound understanding of the broad effects of policy and how sensitive it can be, as well as what effects a superpower’s political direction can have on other parts of the world. The committee will consist of key actors in drug policy creation and implementation during the 1980s, and your goals are to advice and execute President Reagan’s policy. Committee members will be granted a great deal of authority in how exactly this happens. For the purpose of the committee, we will try our best to put all members on equal playing field regarding authority, although a natural hierarchy is inevitably present in all organizations. It is then up to the individual delegates to find ways to include themselves in the direction of the committee through establishing networks and using their portfolio powers that we will provide. I strongly encourage you to carefully read through the last section of this background guide, which goes into details about how crisis committees run and how you can maneuver your way through them – it will make things a lot easier for you, especially if this is your first time doing crisis. Another point of importance that you should know is that position papers are required in this committee. If you do not turn in a position paper you will not be eligible to receive an award in the committee. Please turn in your paper to my email, listed at the end of this letter, or hand in a hard copy as you walk into our first committee session on February 5th.


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Lastly, I hope that after you finish reading this background guide you are left with a feeling of excitement and motivation to participate in a great debate and exploration of policy measures. I certainly look forward to seeing you perform, and will do everything I can to make your conference experience enjoyable. Feel free to email me at any time before the conference at [email protected]; I would be happy to provide you with further readings or preparation materials, or answer any questions about the committee. I can’t wait to meet you! Best, Anna Helgøy


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A History of the War on Drugs This section of the background guide is not necessarily reflective of the committee’s chronology; rather, it is meant to provide you with information on the political environment surrounding the drug war and examples of policy directions. The ultimate decisions regarding Reagan’s drug policy will be left up to the committee, though they should, for the most part, reflect Reagan’s ideology. Beginnings: The Nixon Era The 1960s gave birth to the pinnacle of drug use in the United States. While marijuana became a social stimulant, others sought to explore the realm with hallucinogens such as LSD. As a response to the spike in drug use, the Johnson administration passed the Narcotics Addict Rehabilitation Act of 19961, which aimed to establish that drug abuse was categorized as a mental illness. Furthermore, this paved the way for future federal involvement on drug abuse. The Modern War on Drugs began when President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs” in 19712. Under Nixon’s presidency, Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 including the Controlled Substances Act, which most importantly established the five schedules for drug regulation. The Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE) was created in 1972 and established task forces comprised of local and federal agents to combat drug proliferation on the domestic (“street”) level. The initial target of America’s war on drugs was marijuana; however, this soon changed with the huge influx of cocaine and other narcotics flowing into the country. In 1973, President Nixon created a “super agency” to address the now diverse arena of drug abuse and smuggling. This super agency was the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and it was comprised of personnel from multiple agencies such as the CIA, ODALE, Customs, etc.3 America’s war on drugs did not end with the resignation of President Nixon. This was just the beginning.

The Fight Intensifies: The Reagan Administration Although Richard Nixon established many of the formal institutions at work in the drug war, the campaign truly escalated under President Ronald Reagan. When Reagan assumed office in 1981, the use of cocaine saw a significant increase in the United States, most of which was smuggled from Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru through south Florida via airfare and boats. Acting on his campaign promise of reduced crime rates, Reagan declared an all-out war on drugs and overturned many of the Nixon policies that had focused on treatment and state decriminalization laws. Instead, Reagan emphasized law enforcement and harsh punishments for drug use.4 The

1 Drug Policy Alliance. N.d. A Brieg History of the Drug War. Web. http://www.drugpolicy.org/new-solutions-drug-policy/brief-history-drug-war 2 K. McIntyre, R. Osterloh, C. Sawick. Stanford University. 1999. The United States War on Drugs. Web. https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/paradox/htele.html 3 Public Broadcasting System. 2014. Thirty Years of America’s Drug War. Web. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/ 4 M.H. Cooper. CQ Researcher, 1993. Drug-Policy Debate: Is There Too Much Focus on Law Enforcement? Vol. 3 Issue 11, p. 241-261. Web. http://library.cqpress.com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/cqresearcher/getpdf.php?id=cqresrre2000072800


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federal budget of 1982 awarded no less than $1.3 billion to the war on drugs, most of which was specifically earmarked for operations that would decrease the supply of illegal substances. This resulted largely in increased border control and interdiction.5

In addition to the start of the Reagan era, 1981 also marked the rise of the Medellin cartel, which soon became the biggest distributor of cocaine in history. Led by Pablo Escobar, the cartel consisted of himself, the Ochoa family, Carlos Lehder, and Jose Gacha. The same year, the U.S. government ratified a bilateral extradition treaty with Colombia, which became a big threat to the Medellin cartel in the coming decade, magnified by Ronald Reagan’s presidency and his aggressive continuation of the war on drugs.6 In order to combat the smuggling of illegal substances, then-Vice President Bush established the South Florida Task Force, an interagency group under the National Narcotic Border Interdiction System. The task force focused on reducing marijuana supply after outcries from parent groups across the United States, which only resulted in smugglers changing drug strategy: instead of marijuana, they were now smuggling the much more constrained and easier-to-carry substance of cocaine.7 As supply of the substance rose, prices went down rapidly, which increased the abuse of the drug further within United States borders, a trend that went through the roof with the introduction of crack cocaine – the cheap, smokeable version of cocaine.8 This trend became most prominent in minority neighborhoods across southern Florida and California, which led to an outbreak of increased violence and crime in these areas.

In 1986, Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act due to public pressure from realizing evidence that Reagan’s interdiction strategy was turning out unsuccessful. The act increased the budget for the war on drugs to $3.9 billion, and although about three quarters of that funding was still going to Reagan’s supply-restricting policies, the increase also focused on a demand-side strategy, meaning it funded prevention measures in education as well as drug treatments, much like what Richard Nixon had intended. The drug war was one of the few policies for which President Reagan supported increased public funding, and so he welcomed the budget adjustment – however, he tried to reduce the execution of the demand preventing measures such as drug education and treatment.9

Congress took the Anti-Drug Abuse Act even further in 1988 after public criticism of the government’s drug policy, and this time, the law seriously increased the demand-side funding of the drug war. The act also established the Office of National Drug Policy Control, which was to be directed by William Bennett who had previously served as the Secretary of Education. Perhaps most importantly, however, the new law established new mandatory sentencing guidelines for drug policy abuses: for first-time drug traffickers, a two-tier model was enacted, one consisted of a minimum sentence of five years and the other of ten years. The application of either depended on the amount of substance the charged trafficker was carrying; if someone carried 50 grams of cocaine base, the ten-year sentence would apply, versus five kilograms of

5 Ibid. 6 Public Broadcasting System, 2014. Thirty Years of America’s Drug War. Web. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/ 7 M.H. Cooper. CQ Researcher, 1993. Drug-Policy Debate: Is There Too Much Focus on Law Enforcement? Vol. 3 Issue 11, p. 241-261. Web. http://library.cqpress.com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/cqresearcher/getpdf.php?id=cqresrre2000072800 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid.


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powdered cocaine, commonly referred to as the 100-1 ratio.10 (Whether or not cocaine base referred to any kind of processed cocaine or only crack cocaine was challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011 in DePierre v. United States, where the Court issued a unanimous ruling that the wording can be applied to all kinds of processed cocaine.11 However, it is a political uncertainty whether or not the wording was intentionally targeting crack cocaine.) Additionally, the law called for a mandatory death penalty sentence for murder while dealing drugs, high monetary penalties for possession of small amounts of illegal substances, and denial of college loans and other federal benefits to drug abusers and dealers.12

Another important factor to Reagan’s anti-drug war was the efforts of his wife, Nancy. Mrs. Reagan made the efforts against drug abuse her main agenda as First Lady and diligently named her campaign “Just Say No”. The campaign became extremely popular across the United States, although it was labeled “simplistic” according to some, an example being Abbie Hoffman who compared her campaign with telling a depressed person to just “cheer up” – however, her campaign was an image success story for the first lady for key constituents like mothers.13

The CIA Contra Controversy President Reagan made it one of his top priorities in foreign policy to eradicate communism around the globe, and the Contra controversy shows just how far the president was willing to go, pushing his agenda against the law and guidelines from Congress. The story first surfaced when reporter Gary Webb from San Jose Mercury News published a series of investigative articles titled “Dark Alliance” in 1996. The series revealed a connection between drug trafficking from Central America (specifically Nicaragua) into southern Los Angeles African American neighborhoods through the drug dealers Norwin Menenes and Danilo Blandon with the CIA in the 1980s. According to Webb, the CIA was fully aware of the drug trafficking and assisted in making it practically feasible in order to provide a way for the anti-communist Contra movement in Nicaragua to make a profit. In other words, the Contra movement needed money for weapons and resources to fight communism in Nicaragua, and since Congress wouldn’t approve direct monetary support to the movement, they made money by selling drugs to poor neighborhoods in southern Los Angeles.14 The story spread fast, and Democratic political figures in Los Angeles were quick to jump on the idea that the CIA was behind a huge operation to disadvantage African American people by purposely introducing crack cocaine in these neighborhoods. However, Webb started receiving criticism just a few days later by big media names such as the New York Times, LA Times, and the Washington Post, and soon, Webb’s reputation as a journalist was completely

10 United States Sentencing Commission, n.d. Report on Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy. Chapter 6, Section C-3. Web. http://www.ussc.gov/report-cocaine-and-federal-sentencing-policy-2 11 Sotomayor, 2011. Scotus Blog. DePierre v. United States. Web. http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/depierre-v-united-states/ 12 M.H. Cooper. CQ Researcher, 1993. Drug-Policy Debate: Is There Too Much Focus on Law Enforcement? Vol. 3 Issue 11, p. 241-261. Web. http://library.cqpress.com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/cqresearcher/getpdf.php?id=cqresrre2000072800 13 Public Broadcasting System, n.d. Biography: Nancy Reagan. Web. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/reagan-nancy/ 14 Craig Delaval, n.d. Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories, and the C.I.A. in Central America. Frontline for Public Broadcasting System. Web. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html


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demolished by his own editor’s public apology for the story.15 It did spark an internal investigation by CIA’s Inspector General, an independent investigator approved by Congress. This led to the publication of the Frederick Hitz report on the investigation, commonly known as the Hitz report. The report revealed that Gary Webb’s stories were exaggerated versions of facts,16 and the CIA did in fact contribute to some degree of accommodation in drug trafficking into Los Angeles by overlooking big actors in the game. An example is show in the instance that the CIA prosecuted a lot of Norwin Menenes’ family members for drug trafficking, but not Menenes himself, because they wanted to keep him on as an informant to the agency.17 The CIA stands by its innocence in direct involvement with drug trafficking today, but admits to some flaws in its operations handling the crack cocaine epidemic. Modern Implications – the Aftermath This section is included so you know about the implications of Reagan’s policies and what direction it ended up taking the country.

The Bush Administration: With Reagan’s term in the White House ending in 1989, the vice president during his administration, George H. W. Bush, took over the presidency. Bush came into the Oval Office with the same logic that his predecessor had on the drug trade. His strict approach against the consumption and global distribution of drugs pushed the United States deeper into the drug wars and ultimately had long lasting effects that are still being seen today in modern America. Less than a year into his presidency, Bush gave one of the most memorable speeches regarding the drug war. Holding up a bag of crack cocaine, Bush used this moment to further stoke the public’s fear and anger against the effects of the drug trade on them.18 According to Bush, undercover agents had allegedly bought the bag of crack in a parking lot adjacent to the White House. This added public relations plus, was meant to show the American public just how widespread the drug problem had become. Bush made a pledge to increase funding to fuel the drug war to a tune of $1 billion dollars, and pushed for a policy of, “more jails, more prisons, more courts, and more prosecutors.”19 This speech was the beginning of Bush’s strong, hard-line approach to the drug trade. One of Bush’s first acts as President in combatting the drug trade was the establishment of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in 1989. This new government entity was created to provide guidance and policy advice to the President regarding “drug-control issues, coordinates drug-control activities, and related funding across the Federal government, and produces the Drug Control Strategy.”20 This “Drug Control Strategy” is regarded as the blueprint used by the President to combat the manufacturing and distribution of drugs, crime and violence

15 Ibid. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid. 18 Drug Policy Alliance. “25th Anniversary of President George H.W. Bush Infamous Speech”. 4 Sept, 2014. Web. http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/2014/09/friday-25th-anniversary-president-george-hw-bushs-infamous-oval-office-speech-escalatin. 19 C-SPAN. “Presidential Address on National Drug Policy”. 5 Sept, 1989. Web. http://www.c-span.org/video/?8921-1/presidential-address-national-drug-policy. 20 The White House. “About ONDCP”. Web. https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/about.


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related to drug use, and the any health consequences due to the use of drugs. Bush appointed William Bennett as the first “drug czar” of the newly created drug fighting force.21 In conjunction with his domestic themed initiatives, Bush also employed a number of internationally drive policies to combat the combat drug trade. Beginning on December 20, 1989, the US invaded Panama. This operation was called Operation Just Cause and was implemented to oust the leader of Panama at the time, General Manuel Noriega. 22 Noriega had long been considered a vital asset by the US government for his work in helping the Contra groups in Nicaragua. This policy benefited the United State’s fight against Communism spreading through Central America, and also allowed General Noriega to finance himself by allowing drug traffickers from Colombia to distribute their contraband through Panama.23 Ultimately, Noriega surrendered on January 3, 1990 and was imprisoned for 45 years in a US prison. The Clinton Administration: Following Operation Just Cause and the Bush Administration’s strong stance against the drug trade, the administration of Bill Clinton followed. Domestically, Clinton kept policies such as the severe discrepancy in sentencing for cocaine versus crack possession, and did not implement a program to pass out clean syringes for addicts.24 This policy furthered the spread of HIV/AIDS during this time period as well. Following in the same footsteps as the Bush administration, Clinton had a hard-line policy in combatting the drug trade overseas. One of the most consequential and comprehensive policies implemented by a US president to combat the drug trade was Plan Colombia. Plan Colombia was first discussed October 28, 1998 between US President Clinton and newly elected Colombian President Andres Pastrana. 25 Plan Colombia was not solely concerned on the drug trafficking issues plaguing Colombia at the time. Initially, the comprehensive policy was supposed to target, “counternarcotics, sustainable economic development, the protection of human rights, humanitarian aid, stimulation of private investment, and overall promotion of Colombia’s economic growth.”26 The first year of Plan Colombia resulted in $1.3 billion in foreign aid being invested and five hundred US soldiers being sent to Colombia to train the local Colombian forces.27 21 Lyman, Michael. “Drugs in Society: Causes, Concepts, and Control”. 2011. Web. https://books.google.com/books?id=Pm71ElFPDuMC&pg=PA344&lpg=PA344&dq=william+bennett+appointment+to+drug+control&source=bl&ots=CnJRdlkS8z&sig=yuS4BzXWg1njG-SPDG4k9gltMMI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBmoVChMImvXYqODEyAIVSaCACh2nPwKD#v=onepage&q=william%20bennett%20appointment%20to%20drug%20control&f=false. 22 “Operation Just Cause”. Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 1995. Web. http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/doctrine/history/justcaus.pdf. 23 Engelberg, Stephen with Gerth, Jeff. “Bush and Noriega: Examination of Their Ties”. New York Times. 28 Sept, 1988. Web. http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/28/us/bush-and-noriega-examination-of-their-ties.html?pagewanted=all. 24 Drug Policy Alliance. “A Brief History of the Drug War”. Web. http://www.drugpolicy.org/new-solutions-drug-policy/brief-history-drug-war. 25 Authenticated U.S. Government Information. “The President’s News Conference With President Andres Pastrana of Colombia”. 28 Oct, 1998. Web. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-1998-book2/pdf/PPP-1998-book2-doc-pg1890.pdf. 26 Grayson, George. “The Cartels: The Story of Mexico’s Most Dangerous Criminal Organizations and Their Impact on U.S. Security”. 2014. Web. Page 42. 27 United States Government Accountability Office. “Plan Colombia” Oct 2008. Web. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0971.pdf.


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Ultimately, Plan Colombia was almost completely focused on the fight against narco trafficking, and the destruction of coca crops by the aerial spraying of chemical pesticides. The ultimate goal of the aerial spraying was to disrupt the cocaine trade at its core, the supply. By 2000, coca crop cultivation in Colombia surpassed 160,000 hectares and producing around 700 metric tons of cocaine a year.28 Colombia was regarded by the United States as systemically vital for the global drug trade. Plan Colombia did have a number of unintended consequences. With the indiscriminate spraying of these pesticides, a number of other crops were severely destroyed as well. The US State Department knew full well that the aerial spraying policy would have adverse effects on not only crops but also marine life and hydrological areas in Colombia.29 This comprehensive policy pushed by Clinton and Colombian President Pastrana, did inflict some damage on the drug trade and supply of cocaine in Colombia, but it did end up inflicting a number of unintended consequences for the Colombian people who lost their crops and family members as a result of the US’s incursion in Colombia. Overall Implications: The United States strict domestic and international drug policies have resulted in a number of problems domestically and the global community as a whole. One of the most significant consequences of the drug war has been the mass incarceration of the American public. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world at 707 per every 100,000 people.30 One of the main causes of this influx in prison sentences for Americans is drug related offenses. In the year 2013, more than 1.5 million drug arrests were made. It wasn’t until 2010 when President Barack Obama signed into law the Fair Sentencing Act that arrests made for crack possession came with a sentencing disparity of 100:1 versus possession of powder cocaine.31 Before this law, people in possession of crack cocaine were given an incomparably longer prison sentence as oppose to those in possession of powdered cocaine. In 2000, African Americans comprised 84.2% of arrests made for crack cocaine offenses.32 This led to the mass incarceration of African Americans who were given a vastly harsher prison sentence. The relative cheapness of crack cocaine makes it a viable option for minorities. The drug war has also left its fair share of consequences overseas. As Plan Colombia wreaked havoc on the drug cartels and civilians found in the crossfire there, Mexico soon took over the bulk of the Colombian share of drug trafficking to the United States.33 This sudden shift in geographic location has led to an increase in crime and brutality unseen since the murderous days of Pablo Escobar in Colombia. Mexico has seen an enormous amount of drug related deaths 28Mejía, Daniel. “Plan Colombia: An Analysis of Effectiveness and Costs”. The Brookings Institution. Web. http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Papers/2015/04/global-drug-policy/Mejia--Colombia-final.pdf?la=en. 29 U.S. Department of State. “Updated Report on Chemicals Used in the Colombian Aerial Eradication Program”. December 2003. Web. http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/rpt/aeicc/26581.htm. 30 Drug Policy Alliance. “The Drug War, Mass Incarceration and Race”. June 2015. Web. http://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/DPA_Fact_Sheet_Drug_War_Mass_Incarceration_and_Race_June2015.pdf. 31 American Civil Liberties Union. “Fair Sentencing Act”. Web. https://www.aclu.org/node/17576. 32 Coyle, Michael. “Race and Class Penalties in Crack Cocaine Sentencing”. The Sentencing Project. Web. http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/sp/RaceandClass.Sentencing.pdf. 33 Bagley, Bruce. “Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime In The Americas”. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. August 2012. Web. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/BB%20Final.pdf.


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since 2007. According to the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Geografia, y Informacion in Mexico, 164,345 people have been killed in Mexico since 2007 due to the drug war.34 This figure is almost twice as many people as have been killed in Iraq since 2007. The U.S.’s drug war policies have had severe and widespread implications domestically and internationally. These consequences are still yet to be fully understood, and it will be sometime before we understand the full extent that the drug war policies have had on US citizens and the global population as a whole.

34 Breslow, Jason. “The Staggering Death Toll of Mexico’s Drug War”. 27 July, 2015. PBS Frontline. Web. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/foreign-affairs-defense/drug-lord/the-staggering-death-toll-of-mexicos-drug-war/.


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Committee Members: This list provides brief biographies of the members of the committee, to help you understand your own character and stance as well as everyone else’s. I encourage you to try to identify key allies before you walk into our first committee session. I also suggest that you perform further research on your character before you write your position paper; questions to keep in mind while writing the paper are listed later in the background guide. Some of the characters did not actually assume their title until after 1982, which is the starting point of the committee, but for the purposes of the conference, assume your title is current. Another thing I would like to note is that even though some of the characters listed below sound more powerful or authoritative than others, this committee works collaboratively in advising president Reagan on his actions. We will hand you your portfolio powers as you enter the first session. Disclaimer: some of the characters are going to be hard to research – if that is the case, we have provided some starting fictional guidelines for the character, and you are allowed to reasonably assume your own background as necessary for you to establish a position (if this is stretched too far you will hear from crisis staff at the conference.) This means that not everything provided in these biographies are exactly true to history, but this is what we will be working with during the conference. Also keep in mind that the most important factors regarding your performance in the conference do not lie in your character’s background – they lie in how you shape your character’s future.

John C. “Jack” Lawn, Deputy Administrator of the DEA Before working with the DEA, Lawn was a special agent of the FBI in charge of their field office in San Antonio. He was appointed as deputy administrator of the DEA in 1982. In his role, he is tasked with answering directly to the Administrator of the DEA and working in conjunction with the acting administrators to handle the organization’s responsibilities. The DEA is the most important law enforcement agency regarding distribution and sales of illegal substances.35 Jack Lawn is known for being a fearless negotiator and knows his way around the political system, and is a personal friend of Ronald Reagan’s White House Chief of Staff, James Baker.

Francis M. “Bud” Mullen, Acting Administrator of the DEA Francis Mullen was a graduate of Central Connecticut State College. He became an FBI Special Agent in 1962, and was a well-respected FBI agent until he was recruited to the DEA, working all over the country specializing in white-collar crime.36 He is considered an expert on crime in Florida, Los Angeles, and New Orleans since these are the places he had the most senior roles as a special agent. In 1981 he was designated Acting Administrator of the DEA by Ronald Reagan. In his capacity as acting administrator of the DEA, he assists in the operations support, intelligence and human resources divisions.

35 Allgov.com, n.d. “U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration”. Web. http://www.allgov.com/departments/department-of-justice/us-drug-enforcement-administration-dea?agencyid=7195 36 dea.gov, n.d. “Drug Enforcement Administration 1980-1985”. Web. http://www.dea.gov/about/history/1980-1985.pdf


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Gerald H. Hochman, Director of the Investigative Unit at the South Florida Task Force Gerald Hochman was appointed the investigative director of the South Florida Task Force by Vice President George H. W. Bush. The task force was established to tackle the inflow of illegal substances that came into southern Florida by boat or small airplanes, as well as to decrease the abuse of such substances. Hochman has an investigative responsibility in this, and works closely with the DEA leadership in providing information about smugglers and their routes into the United States. His responsibilities reach far beyond Florida, as this is seen as simply the gateway for the increased drug abuse across the U.S. Jim Dingfelder, Task Coordinator for the South Florida Task Force Jim Dingfelder is the staff and task coordinator for the task force in Florida, working side by side with Gerald Hochman and George Heavey. Dingfelder holds the administrative responsibility of the task force, and is a key policy creator regarding drug enforcement. Dingfelder is known for getting his way and performs the most extraordinary tasks, reaching distributors of illegal substances all over the Americas in creative ways, hoping to ultimately catch their locations and save the United States from the crisis they are facing. George D. Heavey, Regional Customs Service Commissioner of Florida George Heavey is a crucial partner to the South Florida Task Force with his leadership in customs and clearing imports into the area. He works closely with the members of the task force to decrease the amounts of illegal substances flowing into the state and the rest of the country, being the only one in this special committee with access to information of exactly how drug enforcement is performing with regards to how much illegal substances they catch at the Florida border. This puts Heavey in a unique position, possibly facing distributors of this pest directly. Robert “Bobby” Nieves, Head of International Operations and Special Agent of the DEA Bobby Nieves was a special agent for the DEA from 1975 to 1995, and he served as the head of international operations, meaning he is an expert on the inner workings of the global drug industry.37 Nieves is invaluable to President Reagan’s efforts, and works as a liaison between the DEA and the CIA, as they share a lot of the intelligence he gathers about illegal activities related to drugs internationally. He has spent a lot of time studying drug trafficking from Central America and has a lot of connections in the area, as well as in the White House.

37 Public Broadcasting System, Frontline. N.d. “Drug Wars – Interview – Bobby Nieves”. Web. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/nieves.html


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Oliver “Ollie” North, Senior member of the National Security Council – Deputy Director for Political-Military Affairs Oliver North was a platoon commander during the Vietnam War, and as a reward for his service and sacrifice, he was asked to join the National Security Council as its deputy director for political-military affairs in 1981.38 President Reagan has gained a large amount of respect for North, especially with regards to covert operations. North is known for being particularly patriotic, and stands with the president not only in the drug war, but also in the war against global communism – a subject North feels passionately about. Everett Ellis Briggs, American Ambassador to Panama Everett Briggs was born in Havana, Cuba in 1934. He attended Dartmouth, and was appointed to US Ambassador to Panama in 1982 by President Reagan. As ambassador, Everett ensures good diplomatic relations between the US, Panama and the region as a whole. He has a close relationship with the ambassadors to both Nicaragua and Colombia, as well as the DEA station chief in Panama. The four of them have a long history of making peaceful connections in Central and South America, and have close relationships with the country’s respective governments. Anthony C. E. Quainton, American Ambassador to Nicaragua Anthony was born in Seattle in 1934. He attended Princeton for his B.A. and followed that with a B.Litt. from Oxford University. He served in a number of roles for the State Department before being appointed Ambassador to Nicaragua by Ronald Reagan in 1982. Needless to say, he has a lot of connections within the State department. In his capacity, Anthony was the head diplomat between the U.S. and Nicaragua, and works closely with the ambassadors to Panama and Colombia, as well as the DEA station chief in Panama to ensure peaceful environments in the region. Lewis Arthur Tambs, American Ambassador to Colombia Lewis Tambs born in San Diego, California in 1927. He was appointed ambassador to Colombia in 1983 by Ronald Reagan, where he ensures that relations between the U.S., Colombia, and the further region are in order. Tambs works closely with the other ambassadors in the committee as well as the DEA station chief to Panama to promote peaceful operations in the area, and also carries with him a relatively large network within the CIA. Alan Fiers, Chief of the CIA’s Central American Task Force A close ally to Oliver North, Alan Fiers was the leader of the CIA’s operations in Central America, and contributed greatly to the investigation of substance inflow. Like North, Alan Fiers is a classic patriotic American that serves at the pleasure of president Reagan, perhaps most enthusiastically with regards to beating down on drug distributors as well as anti-American sentiments. Fiers answers directly to CIA Director William Casey, and gathers intelligence on the agency’s behalf.

38 Public Broadcasting System, Frontline. N.d. “Drug Wars – Interview – Oliver North”. Web. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/north.html


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Edwin Meese, 75th Attorney General of the United States and Chair of the National Drug Policy Board Edwin was born in 1931 in Oakland, California and is a graduate of Yale University and UC Berkeley School of Law. Meese became Attorney General in 1985 and subsequently chaired the National Drug Policy Board. His role on the board allows him to work directly with the First Lady to develop her very own anti-drug campaign initiative, and with this comes direct access to president Reagan. Meese is also a personal friend of both DEA Deputy Administrator Jack Lawn and White House Chief of Staff James Baker. Meese has a large network within the political and intelligence realm, and is known to use his connections shamelessly in his missions.

Carlton Turner, Director of the Drug Abuse Policy Office Carlton Turner was born in 1940 in Choctaw County, Alabama. He is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi. In 1982, he was appointed by Reagan to Director of Drug Abuse Policy Office. Along with this role, Turner is also the President's adviser for drug abuse policy and works actively with the First Lady along with Edwin Meese to develop her anti-drug campaign. Bill Alden, San Francisco based Special Agent for DEA Bill Alden started his career in the U.S. Customs Service in Cleveland, Ohio, but soon got transferred to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and asked to work as an undercover agent in the fight against marijuana. Based in San Francisco, Alden’s duties extends practically to the entire state of California and as there has been increasing accounts of drug abuse particularly in southern-central Los Angeles, Alden corresponds directly with the leadership of the DEA and is of immense value to them. James Bramble, DEA Station Chief to Panama As the DEA Station Chief to Panama, James Bramble worked as the acting head of the DEA’s operations in Panama, where a lot of the illegal substances are believed to be smuggled through. Bramble works closely with the ambassador to Panama along with the other two ambassadors in this committee, as well as Alan Fiers, to whom he generally reports any intelligence of illegal activities. Bramble has countless connections on the ground in Central America as he has been working there for years. Anne L. Armstrong, Chairman of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board Anne Armstrong was born in New Orleans and attended Vassar College. From 1981-1990, Armstrong served as Chairman of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. The Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board is focused on providing the President with an independent view and recommendations on intelligence collected by the various U.S. intelligence agencies. The Board prides itself on providing expert, objective advice, and does not view herself as particularly affiliated with politics. She takes her missions incredibly seriously and is very well respected in the intelligence community.


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William J. Casey, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency William Casey was born in Queens, New York in 1934. He graduated from Fordham University and went to St. Johns Law School. Casey served in a number of government professions and worked for the predecessor of the CIA, the OSS. Casey served as a campaign manager for Reagan’s presidential run in 1980. Once elected, Reagan nominated Casey as the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. As director of the CIA, Casey plays a vital role in Reagan’s foreign policy agenda, and has positioned himself particularly strongly in Reagan’s anti-communism policies.

Frank V. Ortiz Jr., US Ambassador to Peru

Frank Ortiz is a well-known diplomat with previous ambassadorships in Barbados, Grenada and Guatemala. He has worked in State Department since 1951 and is a very well respected diplomat specializing in Latin American affairs. His top allies are in the diplomatic community in this committee.

John Gavin, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Gavin is a well-known Republican actor who was appointed to be Ambassador to Mexico in 1981. He is praised for his activism in the country, where he has spoken out against illegal drug trade and anti-American sentiment in the country. His closest allies are the ambassador community, but also is an old friend of Ronald Reagan due to their shared background in acting.

Donald “Don” Regan, the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Former Wall Street executive and the front of the “Reaganomics” era, Don Regan is a well-respected Republican in the Reagan administration. For the purpose of this committee, Regan will be in charge of finances of initiatives and an important liaison to the president.

The Committee’s Current Situation The year is 1982, and Ronald Reagan is in his second year as the president of the United States. A few months ago, the Drug Enforcement Administration joined forces with the FBI, which effectively means that the committee now reports to FBI Director William H. Webster, and that the DEA and the FBI have joint jurisdiction over drug investigations. The committee has received intelligence showing that the use of marijuana has increased significantly in the past five years across the country, and President Reagan has requested the committee to come up with policy ideas that specifically target this trend. The president wants the policy to combat supply of illegal substances while still keeping our good relationships with our neighbors in Latin America, and he is planning on using the policy as a pointer that he is fulfilling his promise to reduce crime rates across the country. He trusts the committee as a whole to come up with a strategy to tackle the drug crisis he foresees is underway, although he will need the measures to fit in with his overall ideology.


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Questions to consider: Keep these questions in mind as you prepare for the conference and write your position paper.

1. How effective were Reagan’s drug policies? Should this committee do anything differently? (Of course, in committee session you will assume that you don’t know these modern implications for a fact – but you can prelude to them and use them in arguments as you see fit.)

2. What aspect of drug enforcement policy is important to your character? Would you want to see an emphasis on punishment and sentencing for drug trafficking, or is good diplomatic relations and open borders important to you? Perhaps both? What about demand side policies, including drug prevention education and treatment?

3. How do your responsibilities in this committee line up with other aspects of your character’s job? What would come first in a matter between drug enforcement and the spread of American democratic values abroad?

4. What does your character want to personally obtain in this committee? What priorities need to be in place?

Suggested Readings “Thirty Years of America’s Drug War”, by Frontline for Public Broadcasting System. This provides a concise timeline of the drug war. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/ “The Drug Enforcement Administration: 1980-1985”, by the Drug Enforcement Administration. This in-depth article provides detailed information on how the DEA operated at the time of our committee. This is a good idea to read through if you would like ideas for different operations and specific actions, and also portrays the political environment in the DEA quite well. http://www.dea.gov/about/history/1980-1985.pdf “Reagan”, by American Experience for Public Broadcasting System. This link provides you with a long list of resources with information about Ronald Reagan’s presidency, including some specific information on his drug enforcement policies. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/reagan-intro/ “Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories, and the C.I.A. in Central America” by Craig Delaval for Frontline at PBS: this article provides an in-depth analysis of the Hitz report, dealing with the CIA Contra controversy in Nicaragua. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html “Reagan’s War on Drugs Reduced Crime in an Unexpected Way” by Adam Martin for The Wire: argues that Reagan’s focus on reducing supply of marijuana caused the shift to massive smuggling of crack cocaine, thereby making drugs cheaper, and when drugs become cheaper, crime rates go down because abusers won’t have to turn to criminal methods of obtaining drugs. http://www.thewire.com/national/2011/12/reagans-war-drugs-reduced-crime-unexpected-way/46466/


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“Reagan: Drugs are the ‘No. 1’ Problem” by NEWSWEEK 1986 Editor-in-Chief Richard M. Smith, Washington bureau chief Morton M. Kondracke, White House correspondent Margaret Garrard Warner and correspondent Elaine Shannon: this is an exclusive interview with president Reagan from 1986, where he discusses his anti-drug campaign. http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=5774&sr=HEADLINE(Reagan%3A+drugs+are+the+'no.+1'+problem)%2BAND%2BDATE%2BIS%2B1986 “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration” by Ta-Nehisi Coates for The Atlantic provides an in-depth discussion on one of the debated repercussion of the Reagan drug war: mass incarceration of African Americans. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/the-black-family-in-the-age-of-mass-incarceration/403246/ “Campaign Against Drug Abuse”: A primary resource from PBS. This is an address president Reagan made from the West Hall of the Whitehouse together with his wife, Nancy, regarding their joint campaign on drugs. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/reagan-drug-campaign/ Notes on how the committee will be run This committee is a crisis committee as opposed to a general assembly committee. That means that the competition will not follow standard parliamentary procedure. Now, don’t freak out – a crisis committee is also more fast-paced, fun, and a very real insight into how college Model UN competitions, as well as the real world, work. There are some rules in our UGAMUNC rulebook that still apply to our committee, so I do encourage you to still be aware of those. However, here are a few basic rules of thumb for crisis committees. I recommend that you print these out and bring them with you to committee.

1. There will be no speaker’s list. Think about the sessions as a constant moderated caucus (although you are allowed to motion for unmoderated caucuses as well.)

2. You will not be writing resolutions. In general assembly committees, you would spend a lot of time formulating long solutions to the issue at hand called resolutions, to be passed by the general assembly. In a crisis committee, these don’t exist. Instead, you’ll be writing directives; these are short and precise descriptions of actions you wish the committee to take. They are usually brought to a vote immediately, without a long voting process. This is due to the fact that in a committee like this, new things are constantly happening, and you will want to pass directives as soon as a new crisis is introduced.

3. Personal directives. In addition to committee directives that are described above, you will want to try to move through crises unilaterally on the side. As you walk into the first committee session, you will be handed a portfolio with information about your personal connections, available monetary funds and military troops if applicable, etc. Everyone will have something up his or her sleeve, and everyone should reflect on what is best for the agency you are representing. To pass personal directives, simply write a note labeled


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clearly with “personal directive” and send the note to crisis staff or the co-chair of your committee. You will receive a personal response from crisis on whether or not the action is feasible. Within reasonable limits, I encourage you to establish your personal objectives for the committee and use the tool of personal directives. If you do this successfully, you are able to control the direction of the crises to some extent. However, I do remind you that everything that happens is at the chairs’ and crisis staff’s discretion. Things will not always go your way, and that is part of crisis – no matter how well articulated your notes are.

4. Communiqués. As mentioned above, you will be informed of certain personal connections you have in your portfolio. In order to contact these people or organizations, write a note and label it “communiqué” and hand it to a staff member or your co-chair. You will receive a personal response from staff.

5. Be prepared to improvise and think on your feet. Unlike a general assembly committee, you will not be completely aware of what is going to happen at any point in time. We are providing you with a starting scenario, or a description of where the committee is currently. This can change or escalate very quickly. Do your research as much as you can, but be aware that all topics that apply to Reagan’s War on Drugs are fair game and can be introduced by the chair or crisis staff in various ways throughout the session.

6. Committee technology. We will not allow for you to bring your own private laptops or use personal electronic devices during committee sessions. Bring paper and pens to write notes.

7. Get excited. We guarantee you a weekend full of surprises and fun, as well as a great debate.

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