House Panel on Drugs Criticizes Cuts by Reagan

Democrats and Republicans on a House drug panel blasted President Reagan today for proposing to cut money in his new budget for anti-drug programs that were approved just late last year.

“All of us are appalled that the Administration is telling the youth of American to say no to drugs when they’re saying no to drug funding,” Rep. James H. Scheuer (D-N.Y.) said.

“These actions by the Administration seriously call into question their commitment to an effective national drug abuse strategy,” said Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control.

New Programs Affected

Rangel, Scheuer and others on the panel charged at a news conference that Reagan’s new budget proposals would cut hundreds of millions of dollars in recently passed anti-drug programs.

Those cuts, they said, are at odds with the commitment to fighting drug abuse Reagan made when he signed the omnibus $2.9-billion Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 in October at an elaborate White House ceremony. And they vowed to fight to restore the proposed cuts.

“The President’s budget makes his October actions (in signing the bill) appear to be either pre-election fanfare or absence of leadership on the part of the White House on drug abuse policy,” Rangel said.

Cuts Called ‘Appalling’

Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.), the senior Republican on the House panel, called Reagan’s proposed cuts “appalling.”

“I find that the Administration’s funding approach to the drug problem is both shocking and counterproductive to the effort of educating our citizens, especially our youth, as to the dangers of drug abuse,” Gilman said.

The Justice Department said Reagan’s proposed fiscal 1988 budget, submitted to Congress Monday, “zeroes out” $225 million in drug abuse grants to state and local governments. Congress authorized that amount for each of three years beginning in fiscal 1987.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Arnold Burns said the government would fund the program in 1987, but then state and local governments must “step up to the bar and take the initiative that is rightfully theirs.”

In total, Reagan requested a $61-million increase for federal anti-drug programs, which the Justice Department said “reflects this Administration’s total commitment to fight the evil of illegal drugs.”