University of Virginia Library

Spong Hits Diplomatic Drug Law,
Suggests More U.S. Restriction

In a report to the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee
on Tuesday, Sen. William B.
Spong Jr. (D-Va.) criticized a
new law which enables the
President to dispense with
economic and military aid to
any countries that benefit the
U.S. illegal drug trade,
according to The Richmond
Times-Dispatch.

"It would be the worst kind
of tragedy to fall prey on the
illusion that we can somehow,
by an energetic application of
the tools of diplomacy and
international crime fighting,
defeat the problem of heroin,"
Mr. Spong said.

President Nixon, before a
drug control conference on
Monday, said the law would be
used to give drug pushers "no
base in any nation for their
operations."

Mr. Spong Tuesday told a
press conference that he has
supported the international
approach when the proposal
came before the Senate, but
felt that this law would
influence the illicit drug trade
only slightly.

"I don't think the people of
the United States should be led
to believe that we are licking
the problem because of what
we are trying to do abroad," he
said.

Emphasizing that the
problem should be confronted
at home, Mr. Spong suggested
measures such as "severe and
well-reasoned penalties" for
drug traffickers as well as
"bold and comprehensive
measures of treatment."

Mr. Spong said it is very
tempting "to go to the source
– to the very fields where
opium is grown – and destroy
it." He elaborated on this
conclusion by pointing out its
deceiving aspects.

With this new law, citizens
forget the real problem which
is "the demand for heroin
made by hundreds of
thousands of Americans," Mr
Spong said. He stressed the
complexity of this demand by
calling it "as perplexing as the
nature of our modern society."

Mr. Spong concluded his
report saying that this demand
is growing "in totality each
time another person falls to
addiction" and that the United
States must act energetically to
promote rigorous international
controls – "for the sake of
other countries as well as our
own."

Mr. Spong's report results
from a summer trip to Turkey,
Iran, West Germany, France
and Great Britain. He plans
more of these trips.