Ross Perot on Drugs

Can’t overstate the damage that drugs are doing

There is no way I can overstate the damage that drugs are doing to this country and to the next generation genetically. If you don’t believe me, go to the charity hospitals and look at those crack babies. It costs $125,000 to bring them into the world. Many of them are permanently genetically damaged, and the mother disappears in three days, and they become wards of the state. Source: National Press Club interview Jan 15, 1998

Drug traffickers will take advantage of open Mexican border

Mexico is the principal staging area for the shipment of illegal drugs into the US. The NY Times reported that up to 70% of the cocaine consumed in this country is slipped across the US-Mexican border by smugglers working with Colombia’s drug cartels. Today, much of this drug movement is done by illegal immigrants carrying the contraband across the border. Drugs are also smuggled under the border through tunnels.

If NAFTA is enacted, drug smugglers won’t have to go to so much trouble or expense. They can just transport their illegal goods across the border in trucks, and do so with little fear of being caught. US customs officials are already so overworked that they often have less than five minutes to inspect the cargo in trucks crossing the border from Mexico. This is an open invitation to smuggle. Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers are accepting the invitation. These dealers have bought factories and trucking companies that they can use as fronts for smuggling operations.

Source: Save Your Job, Save Our Country, by Ross Perot, p. 6-7 Jan 1, 1993

Deal with drug problem in military terms

Perot called for new wiretap powers for police, a system to rate judges according to the severity of drug sentencing, and cordoning off black neighborhoods in Dallas for house-to-house searches for drugs by hundreds of police.

He has called for declaring martial law to combat the drug trade. He says, “You can start dealing with the problem in straight military terms.”

Source: Strong-Man Politics, by George Grant, p.111 Nov 7, 1992

Make drug treatment available to all addicts

As the message against drugs is repeated programs must be put in place to help drug addicts escape from the pit they’ve dug for themselves. Specifically, treatment must be available so that when an addict is ready to confront his or her affliction, help is ready at that moment. Right now more than five million Americans are awaiting drug treatment, including 400,000 teenagers and 100,000 pregnant women. We can only handle 32% of the load. The rest are left to fall even deeper into the pit. Source: United We Stand, by Ross Perot, p. 84 Jul 2, 1992

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