HASTERT WANTS STEPPED-UP DRUG ENFORCEMENT

More than $50 billion is spent on illicit drugs every year in America. Most
of the cash ends up in the hands of drug lords in other countries, says
Congressman J. Dennis Hastert.

Hastert, a Yorkville Republican, will travel to Santiago, Chile, Thursday
hoping to persuade officials from some of those governments to join a U.S.
renewal of efforts to stop the illegal profit and the addiction it produces.

"We lose 20,000 kids every year to drugs or gang violence which is tied to
drugs," Hastert said Tuesday. "If we lost 20,000 of our kids in Bosnia or
the Persian Gulf this country would be up in arms."

The congressman hopes to get Americans and South Americans up in arms about
the drug trade over the next several months.

Hastert, whose 14th congressional district includes part of western DuPage
and Kane counties, has been appointed chair of the Speaker's Task Force for
a Drug-Free America and was asked to lead a congressional delegation to the
"Summit of the Americas" in Chile this weekend. members of Congress will be
joined there by President Clinton and U.S. Drug Czar General Barry
McCaffrey.

Hastert said he hopes especially to talk to Brazilian officials who have
ignored drug transportation through and over their country by drug
producers in other countries.

Shortly after his return, Hastert's task force will begin introducing
legislation to step up U.S. efforts to cut drug use and abuse. Hastert said
he hopes to encourage better communication and information-sharing among
U.S. law enforcement agencies and among agencies internationally.

"One of the best things I can do is make that happen," Hastert said.

Currently, between 80 and 90 percent of those who enter drug treatment
programs return to drugs, Hastert noted. But government should encourage
the treatment programs that appear to work best.

But Hastert acknowledges some of the drug war effort cannot come from
government. "It's moms and dads and preachers and teachers saying, 'We're
fed up,'" Hastert said. "You can't legislate that. That has to be people's
will to do that."