New White House Drug Czar, General Barry McCaffrey, has submitted a request to Congress for an additional $250 million to combat drugs. Not surprisingly, the majority of the requested funding ($202 million) is to be used to beef up the administration’s source-reduction and domestic interdiction programs. For example, the proposal’s largest financial allotment, $98 million, is requested to upgrade surveillance aircrafts to patrol known drug source countries such as Columbia and Peru. In addition, $27 million is to be spent on domestic enforcement, including marijuana eradication, and $13 million is allotted to the DEA for “classified programs.”
