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Fred Thompson on Drugs
Former Republican Senator (TN)
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DEA has no meaningful performance goals on illegal drugs
The GAO has reported on a number of performance and management problems at the Justice Department. One overriding problem is that DOJ does a poor job of explaining what is it trying to accomplish and what it actually is accomplishing with the tax dollars
entrusted to it. GAO could not determine what Justice achieved because of DOJ’s lack of meaningful performance measures. For example, the Drug Enforcement Administration is the federal agency primarily responsible for combating illegal drugs, which
cost our society about $100 billion annually. To help it do this job, Congress substantially increased the agency’s funding and staff. The DEA’s budget (over $1.5 billion for 2000) has more than doubled since 1993. However, DEA has not developed
meaningful goals and measures that can be used to judge its performance and hold it accountable. Therefore, there is no way of knowing whether the agency, with all its staff and funding, has made any difference in reducing the entry of illegal drugs.
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.2, p. 69
Jun 3, 2001
Voted YES on increasing penalties for drug offenses.
Vote to increase penalties on certain drug-related crimes. The amendment would specifically target the manufacturing or trafficking of amphetamines & methamphetamines and possession of powder cocaine, and set stronger penalties for dealing drugs
Reference:
Bill S.625
; vote number 1999-360
on Nov 10, 1999
Voted YES on spending international development funds on drug control.
Vote to add an additional $53 million (raising the total to $213 million) to international narcotics control funding, and pay for it by taking $25 million from international operations funding and $28 million from development assistance.
Reference:
Bill HR 3540
; vote number 1996-244
on Jul 25, 1996
Page last updated: Feb 08, 2010