Chapter 41

In the week after President Lehrer's comments about considering the possible legalization of drugs, police in New York, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Dallas and Cleveland all reported record cocaine and heroin busts. Predictably under the laws of supply and demand, the street prices for these drugs skyrocketed. Also predictably, the crime rate in each of these cities dramatically increased as addicts scrambled to find enough money to finance their habits. This they usually did through burglaries, armed robberies, shoplifting and other thefts, violent and nonviolent. And the drug gangs stepped up their wars for a larger slice of the suddenly more profitable market.

Drive by shootings became daily occurrences in each of these cities. These made the local newscasts each night. People would shake their heads about the druggies killing each other and worry about their own safety due to the rising amount of crime. Then several events occurred within days of each other that caused many Americans to begin rethinking whether the government had been wrong all along in criminalizing drugs in this country.

The first of these happened that Saturday night on South Street in Philadelphia, when members of one drug gang spotted members of another gang walking along the "hippest street in town." Both sides pulled out their weaponry and began shooting at each other. By the time the shooting stopped, fifteen people had been killed, all but four innocent bystanders who happened to get caught in the crossfire. Forty other people were injured, the great majority of them also innocents who were caught in the crossfire.

The next incident occurred the following afternoon when several members of a drug gang were driving in Times Square when they saw three members of an opposing drug gang coming out of an adult book store. The members in the van pulled out their automatic weapons, pointed them out of the windows of the van and sprayed gunfire along the street. Twelve people, including a six year old girl who was visiting New York with her parents, were killed and twenty one people were injured, including the three members of the opposing gang.

At about the same time, members of opposing drug gangs engaged in a gun battle right outside of Disneyland. Twenty five people were killed, including several who had been inside the Magic Kingdom and had been struck by wild or ricocheting bullets. Fifty two people were injured. Disneyland closed due to the senseless violence that had marred the Magic Kingdom.

The following Tuesday, fans were preparing to watch the Cleveland Cavaliers play basketball when members of three opposing drug gangs encountered each other in the arena. It started out as a fist fight, then knives and blackjacks were pulled out and used, then four gang members pulled out 9 mm. automatic pistols and began shooting. Seventeen people died that evening, including three people who had been crushed to death in the panic that had ensued after the shooting began. Twenty nine others were injured.

Riding along Lancaster Pike on the Main Line outside of Philadelphia, members of a drug gang thought they saw the leader of one of their enemy gangs walking along the street. They slowed, rolled down the window, and began shooting. Four people, all completely uninvolved in the drug trade, were killed, and six others were injured in this tragic case of mistaken identity. The drug wars had hit the affluent suburbs.

With each atrocity, pressure continued to build on Kathleen Lehrer to do something to end the violence that was tearing the country apart.

The President welcomed Attorney General Allen Leary, Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Jesse King, Thomas O'Rourke, the head of the F.B.I. and Mitchell Stroach from O.M.B.

"Thank you for coming," opened the President. "Several weeks ago, I asked Allen and Jesse to try to come up with a program that will address some of the root causes of crime, including a new way of looking at the drug problem. What do you have?"

The Attorney General and the H.H.S. Secretary looked at each other for a second before Allen Leary spoke.

"I feel that we should increase the prison sentences for those who use a gun in the commission of a crime as well as for those that are convicted of violent offenses."

"I do, too," replied the President, "but our jails are overflowing now. Even if I had signed the Crime Control Act of 1998, we would have spent another five and a half billion dollars building new prisons, which would have been filled by the time they opened. So what good would that have done? None. We are now faced with the situation where people are being released from prison after serving between a quarter and a third of their sentences because the jails are too full. As a result, we are setting violent offenders free, and in some areas, people who are convicted of felonies for the second, third and fourth times are given probation and are walking the streets because there isn't any room for them in the prison system. We need to figure out what makes these people turn to crime and what we might be able to do to stop them. Tom, can you give me an idea of what are the most often committed crimes?"

Tom O'Rourke looked at his notes. "Well, burglaries and other nonviolent thefts are at the top of the list, followed very closely by drug offenses."

"Can you give me an idea of what percentage of the burglaries and thefts are drug related?" asked President Lehrer.

"I can give you a rough estimate, and I have to emphasize that it is only an estimate."

"Go ahead."

"I would estimate that between 60 and 80 percent of the burglaries and thefts in this country are drug related."

"What about violent crimes? What percent of those would you estimate are drug related?"

"I would guess that between 50 and 70 percent of violent crimes are drug related."

"So, conservatively, you would estimate that 50 to 60 percent of thefts and violent crimes in this country are drug related?"

"Yes, Mme. President. That sounds about right."

"Now in the past couple of weeks, we have had large drug busts in a number of areas throughout the country, correct?"

"Yes, we have. Our agents have been working closely with the D.E.A. and with state and local police forces for almost a year on these cases, and our efforts finally paid off."

"What has been the effect on the crime rates in those areas since your record busts?"

"We don't have those figures in yet."

"Have you been in touch with the police chiefs in any of those areas since then?"

"Yes, I've talked with several of them and congratulated them on their forces' good work."

"What have they said about the crime rates since the busts?"

"They didn't really say anything. I had only talked with them the day of the busts or at the latest, the day after."

"Why don't you give them a call?"

"Now?"

"Yes. I suspect you may be surprised what has happened to the overall crime rate in these cities since your record drug busts. Go ahead. I'll have the White House switchboard make the calls for you." She then went over to her desk, picked up her phone, reached the operator, and had the operator place calls to the police chiefs of New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cleveland and Dallas.

From each city, they received the same answer. Violent crimes and crimes against property had increased by between fifteen and thirty percent in each city since the huge drug busts.

"Now," asked President Lehrer, "do you think that making these record drug busts has done anything to reduce the crime rates in these cities or to make people feel any safer?"

O'Rourke flushed and gulped before he answered the President very quietly. "No," he mumbled.