Dole Takes Hard Line in Anti-Drug Fight

Elizabeth Hanford Dole, outlining a tough-talking anti-drug policy, called Thursday for a dramatic increase in patrols along the border with Mexico and vowed to cease aid to any country that fails to cooperate with enforcement efforts.

As president, the GOP hopeful said, she would nearly triple the size of the Border Patrol, boost the military’s role in fighting drugs and prod Mexico and Colombia to do more to stem the flow of illicit narcotics into the United States.

“If all else fails, I will decertify countries that do not vigorously combat the drugs that are destroying our communities and killing our young people,” Dole said, referring to the annual process of measuring foreign cooperation with U.S. anti-drug efforts.

Last March, amid harsh criticism, the Clinton administration certified Mexico as a drug-fighting ally, despite a falloff in heroin and cocaine seizures and frustration among U.S. officials over the corruption and inefficiency that persist in Mexico’s law-enforcement ranks.

Speaking at Imperial Beach near the U.S.-Mexico border, a favorite campaign backdrop for candidates of all stripes, Dole said Thursday, “It is time we throw down the gauntlet and cease timid negotiations with foreign governments that cannot or will not put a stop to the production or smuggling of drugs.”

Mexico, she said, “needs to extradite drug lords to the United States and make a concerted effort to reduce the flood” of narcotics crossing the border. Colombia--which received roughly $300 million in U.S. aid this year--should receive no further assistance until the government regains control of cocaine-producing territory “controlled by . . . narco-guerrillas.”

Domestically, Dole said, she would boost the Border Patrol from 8,000 agents to 20,000, increase federal funding for anti-drug programs and high-tech surveillance equipment, and “task the military to fully engage in the war on drugs on land, at sea and in the air.” She did not elaborate, nor did she state how she would finance the additional spending.

“That’s a lot of what she’s going to talk about in her next speech,” said spokeswoman Chris Hawes, referring to an upcoming address on the federal budget and taxes.

The sparsely attended speech Dole gave at Borderfield State Park was the most recent in a series of broad policy addresses delivered as she struggles to keep her campaign alive in the face of declining polls and weak fund-raising.

Dole touted her record fighting drugs as secretary of Transportation in the Reagan administration, saying she instituted random drug testing of rail workers and made the department the first civilian agency to begin random drug testing of employees in safety and security positions, such as air-traffic controllers.

In contrast, Dole accused the Clinton administration of having surrendered in the federal war on drugs, noting drug abuse has increased since Reagan and President Bush left office. Dole’s husband, Bob, similarly sought to make drug abuse an issue in his unsuccessful 1996 campaign for president.

Echoing her husband, Dole earlier this week suggested the federal government should be more concerned about controlling illegal drugs than battling the tobacco industry.

“Where are they on drugs?” Dole said in Kentucky, on a campaign swing through the heart of tobacco county.

” . . . That bully pulpit has not been used to really preach that drugs aren’t cool--they kill.”