Legalizing Drugs Could Cut Crime Rate, Elders Says

In remarks that jolted the White House and Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders said that making drugs legal could “markedly reduce our crime rate,” and she called for further study of the radical idea.

The comments were in keeping with her blunt-spoken approach to delicate and controversial subjects--and an indication that she has no intention of changing her style now that she has been elevated to the nation’s bully pulpit on health issues.

Nonetheless, the comments caught the White House off guard, and officials moved quickly to distance President Clinton from her position.

“The President is against legalizing drugs and it’s not something that is going to happen,” White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said. “He’s studied this issue. It’s not something that he is interested in studying any more.”

On Capitol Hill, reports of her comments ignited a political brush fire, particularly among Elders’ conservative critics. Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) called for her ouster, saying that “President Clinton made a serious mistake when he appointed Dr. Elders as surgeon general.”

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said that he was relieved that Clinton had disassociated himself from Elders’ remarks but that the comments raise questions regarding “this Administration’s commitment to fighting drugs. . . . There must be no retreat in the war on drugs.”

The subject is a touchy one for the Administration, in part because of criticism of its decision earlier this year to reduce significantly the size of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The Administration, which made the move as part of its effort to reduce the White House staff, contended that the office had become a dumping ground for a large number of political appointees from past administrations.

The Administration also has discussed shifting the federal government’s emphasis away from efforts to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the country and toward more education and rehabilitation programs--a controversial idea that would represent a departure from the approach of other recent administrations.

Late Tuesday, Elders issued a statement stressing that her comments “should be portrayed as her personal observations based on the experiences of other countries” and that no plan to legalize drugs is being considered by the Administration.

She made the remarks in response to a question during an appearance at the National Press Club. “I don’t know all of the ramifications of this,” she conceded. “I do feel that we need to do some studies.”

She said other countries have tried making drugs legal and “they certainly have shown that there has been a reduction in their crime rates and there has been no increase in their drug use rates.”

William J. Chambliss, a sociology professor at George Washington University, said only a handful of nations have abandoned drug law enforcement. One of them, the Netherlands, has seen “substantial evidence” that the crime rate has declined, along with other drug-related problems, including rates of addiction and the number of people needing crisis care, he said.

Although politically charged, removing criminal penalties from what are now illegal narcotics is an idea that has won support in conservative as well as liberal circles, largely in response to a perception that the nation’s war on drugs is failing.

Chambliss noted that fully 40% of federal prison inmates are incarcerated for selling or possessing drugs. “Trying to enforce laws against them and criminalizing them only makes (the problem) worse,” he said.

Superior Court Judge James P. Gray, the Orange County jurist who has been at the forefront of the current drive to decriminalize the controlled use of drugs like cocaine and heroin, welcomed Elders’ comments, which he viewed as a trial balloon.

“It’s been my sense, from my discussions with the Administration, that they are thinking about exploring publicly our options in the area of drug use and abuse. For that reason, I am not surprised that the surgeon general is making comments like she has,” said Gray.

“Now we as citizens need to show our elected officials that there is interest in--and votes for--investigating the possibility of change,” Gray said.

The Orange County judge, a former federal prosecutor, stunned local law enforcement officials last spring by publicly declaring that the war on drugs had been lost. At the same time, Gray suggested that the government should get into the business of selling controlled substances and use the profits for drug treatment programs.

Since Gray took his controversial stand in a courthouse press conference last year, two other Orange County judges--Superior Court Judge James L. Smith and U. S. Magistrate Ronald L. Rose--have made similar announcements in favor of decriminalizing the use of drugs through some form of government distribution.

Elsewhere, prominent advocates of legal drugs include Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, conservative columnist William F. Buckley Jr. and Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman.

However, polls show that an overwhelming majority of the public opposes the idea. Critics say it inevitably would increase the supply of drugs.

Times staff writer David Lauter contributed to this story.