Word: bennett
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...recent months confident assertions that the U.S. is making great strides in kicking the habit have become conventional wisdom in the drug war's high command. When he resigned as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy three weeks ago, Bennett proclaimed that success, while not yet achieved, was in sight. He contended that his original goal of cutting drug use in half by 1999 could be achieved five years sooner if the federal, state and local governments maintain their current efforts...
...Bennett's hopeful forecast was shared by the President, who declared earlier this month, "We're on the road to victory." Federal surveys found that "casual" consumption of cocaine and marijuana had fallen, as had emergency-room admissions and deaths from drug overdoses. Federal agents believe cocaine prices have risen because of the pressure international police operations are putting on suppliers...
...Bennett's successor is expected to be Florida Governor Bob Martinez, 55, who was defeated in his bid for a second term. The Republican Governor is known more for a hard-line approach to law enforcement than for progress in education and treatment...
Martinez will inherit an effort that has enjoyed some limited successes. Bennett's supporters credit the drug czar with shaping the national debate on drugs into a more mature and less hysterical discussion. He considers the fact that drugs did not figure in most political races this year as a plus because "it means the issue is not a political football...
...credit, Bennett did not fashion a strategy that depended on what he calls "magic bullets." He called for putting steady pressure on every conceivable point, from interdiction abroad to stepped up domestic police work to prevention. His approach won bipartisan support in Congress, which last month voted a record $10.4 billion for federal antidrug programs in the current fiscal year. Bennett and congressional Democrats pushed for dramatic increases, to $2.7 billion, in federal spending for drug treatment and education...