U.S. to Charge Smugglers of Even Small Drug Amounts

U.S. officials pledged Wednesday to make a federal case out of anyone found to have any quantity of illegal drugs--no matter now small--when passing through Customs at Los Angeles International Airport.

“It is time we hold the drug users accountable,” U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner told an airport news conference called jointly with U.S. Customs to announce the “zero tolerance program.”

Customs Pacific Regional Commissioner Quint Villanueva echoed Bonner’s call for individual responsibility in efforts to control drugs.

“By prosecuting users, as well as dealers, we intend to send a message to all drug users that the demand they create when they use drugs is also a crime and encourages a deadly drug trafficking environment that threatens us all,” he said.

Customs does not plan to increase the 200-inspector force that checks travelers arriving from foreign countries, Villanueva said. And the criteria for conducting searches remains the same.

But when anyone is found to have illegal drugs now, Bonner said, the U.S. attorney’s office will file a felony charge of importation of drugs and a misdemeanor charge of possession, and then prosecute the case in federal court.

In the past, when small amounts of drugs were found in the possession of an international traveler, Customs often ended up imposing a fine ranging from $150 to $1,000 as a civil penalty because local, state and federal prosecutors declined to press charges.

Last year, about 50 of the 3 million travelers who cleared Customs at LAX were found to have small quantities of drugs deemed for personal use, Customs officials said.

“The message of this zero tolerance program is that drug users that are in possession of small quantities will be prosecuted, and it will be a federal case,” Bonner said. “We will not tolerate any quantity of illegal drugs brought into the United States, even for personal use.”

The new policy is an expansion of a similar program initiated by Customs in San Diego two years ago, Villanueva said. It comes just two weeks after the President’s Drug Policy Board decided in Washington to expand the “zero tolerance” policy nationwide.

During the past year, San Diego authorities have made about 1,000 arrests under the program, Villanueva said. Of that number, he said, more than 90% pleaded guilty to charges and now have criminal records.

Bonner promised that the crackdown on drug users will not detract from federal efforts to prosecute major smugglers and distribution organizations operating in Southern California.