Politicians Pledge War on Drugs in L.A. Poverty Areas

Tougher laws and enforcement to battle the drug problem in the city’s poverty areas were promised Sunday by political leaders at a gathering of two of the Los Angeles-area’s largest neighborhood organizations.

“We are reaping the whirlwind of the notion that drugs are a victimless crime,” Los Angeles County Dist. Atty Ira Reiner said. “The problem hasn’t been over-reported. . . . The problem has been under-reported.

Reiner said he was calling together the state’s district attorneys Oct. 28 “to try to determine a strategy against” drugs.

Reiner, state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) were among political leaders who focused on the drug problem as they addressed 3,000 members of the United Neighborhood Organization and the South Central Organizing Committee at their autumn assembly at the Hollywood Palladium.