Bennett Holds Off on Military Role in Drug War

After meeting with federal drug czar William J. Bennett on Wednesday, Mayor Tom Bradley said he is convinced that Bennett will involve the U.S. military in the war against narcotics in Los Angeles. But Bennett later said he is not prepared to make that commitment.

“The discussions have just begun,” Bennett said during a late afternoon press conference at MacArthur Park, a notorious haven for drug dealers. “But the Defense Department will definitely be at the table. We’ve got a war on drugs and the military needs to be involved.”

Bennett’s remarks came at the conclusion of a daylong tour of Los Angeles that started at an inner-city elementary school and ended at the park. Just before he arrived, drug dealers offering to sell $5 and $10 packs of crack cocaine boldly canvassed for customers nearby.

As Bennett stood on the park green, flanked by four mounted officers and several patrol cars, he called the drug problem a “modern crisis . . . that America faces.”

Formal Plan

Bennett is expected to present his formal anti-drug plan to President Bush in September. But the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy gave a hint about the plan by saying Bennett favors more aid for drug treatment programs, tougher enforcement, increased vigilance on college campuses and the use of “boot camps” for first-time offenders.

Bennett also said he considers Los Angeles, which some law enforcement officials have described as the nation’s emerging drug capital, to be a top priority.

“There’s no question that the serious national crisis of illegal drug use has particular locales where we can see it in all of its intensity and atrocity,” he said. “Unfortunately, Los Angeles is one of those places. . . . Clearly, Los Angeles and this part of the country can’t be ignored. It has to be the focal point of any serious effort.”

The explosive nature of the city’s drug problem was underscored earlier this year, when federal and local narcotics agents announced the seizure of more than $100 million in cash and arrests of more than 90,000 people on drug charges in Los Angeles during 1988. For the first time in history, more cash was seized in Los Angeles than Miami, authorities reported.

Last month, under a $40 million drug interdiction program approved by Congress, nearly 300 National Guardsmen were temporarily assigned to help U.S. Customs Service investigators search for narcotics at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego. While the use of the full military has been suggested, Bennett has never publicly embraced the controversial idea.

Whirlwind Tour

Bennett held three press conferences during his whirlwind tour of the city. But he stubbornly steered away from committing himself to any specific local programs. He did, however, voice support for the following national programs:

- Increased funding for treatment programs. Bennett said he was especially interested in improving and increasing the number of programs aimed at pregnant addicts.

- Tougher law enforcement measures. Bennett said he may argue in favor of the death penalty for people who are convicted of selling drugs to minors.

- A tough college campus program. Bennett said that colleges and universities may be threatened with the loss of federal funds if they do not stop drug use on campus.

- Boot camps for first-time offenders. Bennett said that drug violators may change their ways if the government forces them to “salute the flag and say their prayers.”

Earlier, Bennett and Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates met with 140 elementary school graduates of the the Police Department’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

Student Heroes

Gates told the fifth- and sixth-grade students from Lovelia Flournoy Elementary School in Watts that they are “heroes” for participating in the 17-week drug-awareness program.

Flournoy Elementary sits in a ravaged section of Watts, just on the edge of the troubled Nickerson Gardens housing complex. Albert Davis, the school principal, said his students have avoided drug problems. He credited DARE for making students more aware of drugs.

“This is a sane campus, all things considered,” Davis said. “But we are still a product of this community. And anything that happens in the projects could eventually happen here.”