British Panel Warns of Drug Flood From U.S.

Shocked by a “depressing” visit to the United States, a parliamentary committee today urged drastic action--including use of the armed forces--against a flood of drugs it called the biggest threat to Britain since World War II.

“We believe, from all that we saw and heard, as the American market becomes saturated, the flood of hard drugs will cross the Atlantic,” the report issued by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee said.

The 11 members of Parliament from the Conservative and Labor parties called it “the most serious peacetime threat to our national well-being” and said Britain and Europe stand to inherit the American cocaine and heroin plague in less than five years.

The legislators just returned from a 10-day fact-finding visit to the United States.

Immediate Action Urged

Parliament member John Wheeler said “tremendously powerful” traffickers in the United States “will want to widen that market to European countries and to the United Kingdom. That is why we must put our defense in place now.”

The committee called for intensified action by customs officers, police, security services and perhaps even the armed forces.

Committee Chairman Sir Edward Gardner said, “I speak on behalf of the committee in saying that we found the tour a distressing and depressing experience.”

He said one member of the committee was offered drugs by a pusher.

The MPs visited New York, Washington, Atlanta and Miami and watched heroin deals being transacted.

The report said cocaine and heroin have turned large areas of America’s inner cities into “zones of indescribable despair, terror and squalor.”