San Diego

Saying the flow of drugs into the United States from Mexico has reached “crisis proportions,” Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego) has called for a special task force to thwart drug smuggling.

In a letter sent to President Reagan on Wednesday, Lowery said the task force should be modeled after a similar anti-smuggling group formed in south Florida several years ago. The Florida task force--which coordinates the efforts of local, state and federal drug enforcement agencies--has reduced the flow of narcotics there but may have caused another problem.

“Mr. President, it appears we have become the victims of our own success,” Lowery wrote. “The drug smugglers have moved West . . . . Mexico is now the Number 1 source of illegally imported heroin and marijuana, and nearly 35% of illegally imported cocaine.”