The president of the American Bar Association said Saturday the Bush administration has failed to implement a sound proposed program to fight drug abuse.
L. Stanley Chauvin told 150 lawyers attending the ABA annual convention that President Bush had the right idea to fight the drug problem by combining law enforcement with education and treatment."But the drug control strategy is simply not being implemented as proposed," Chauvin said. "The volume of drug-related cases in the United States is stretching our justice system to its limits."
Chauvin said treatment facilities for drug addicts are "scandalously inadequate," and until recently no large U.S. city had facilities to treat pregnant drug addicts.
"If we have the resources to rescue the victims of the S&L scandal then surely we can find the resources that will stop a cocaine baby from crying," Chauvin said. "Where are our priorities as a nation if we don't?"
He said because there are not enough facilities to treat drug abusers, addicts are being refused admission or must wait up to six months for treatment. In that time many addicts turn to crime, which in turn overburdens the judicial and prison systems.
On Friday Chauvin called for laws to help courts in every state mount a one-year study of their foster care systems and develop improvement plans with federal support for reforms over a four-year period.