10
University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Tuesday, March 4, 1986
Drug problem drastic, group says
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Drug trafficking is organized crime's most lucrative enterprise and constitutes a national emergency that should be met with workplace drug testing and aggressive intervention by the U.S. military, a presidential panel said yesterday.
In a report to President Reagan, the Commission on Organized Crime said law enforcement agencies could do little more than hold the line against illicit narcotics traffic which generates an estimated $110 billion a year.
The solution is to bolster police interception of narcotics with anti-drug programs aimed at reducing the demand for illicit substances, the report said.
It also said the U.S. drug problem had become a threat to national security and justified drastic measures such as drug testing in the workplace.
"No attempt to eliminate organized crime from this country can possibly be complete without a concerted nationwide campaign to reduce the demand for narcotics in the United States," the commission's chairman, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Irving R. Kaufman, said in a statement as the report was submitted to the president.
Kaufman said counseling, education and other efforts were necessary.
The report, which calls drug trafficking and abuse the most serious organized crime problems in America today, says the president should direct all federal agencies to formulate clear policy statements, with working guidelines, including suitable drug testing programs.
suitable drug tests. The study says government contracts should not be awarded to companies that fail to install drug testing programs. There are some 2.7 million civilian federal employees and 1.7 million in the military.
In addition, the federal government does business with about 15,000 companies employing 23 million workers.
At a news briefing, the commission's deputy director, Rodney Smith, stopped short of saying that all working Americans should undergo drug testing, but said, "We are saying to every employer in the nation that 'you should consider the suitability of drug testing.'"
Smith said that the tests were not 100 percent accurate and that there was concern among commission members about employees unfairly losing their jobs as a result. But he said drug testing technology could be improved. He also said losing
a job unfairly was one small issue in a much larger issue.
"We're saying that being drug-free ought to be one of the requirements in all types of government employment and in most types of private employment," said Smith.
The study says the public and private sectors must recognize that the problem is a national emergency.
It also says the U.S. military should adopt a broader view of what constitutes a threat to national security, and the Defense Department should consider expanding Navy assistance to Coast Guard interdiction operations.
The report referred to the testimony of a recently slain informer, pilot Adler Barriman Seal. Seal reported that Nicaragua, with the apparent blessing of the Sandinistas government, was being used as a transshipment point for cocaine between Colombia and the United States.
The study also says the United States should obtain an agreement through diplomatic channels to allow U.S. Customs to pursue suspected airborne drug traffickers into airspace over Mexico.
College community helps with day care
The Associated Press
WALLA WALLA, Wash. — They take a piggyback ride on "big brother's" shoulders, help bake bread, measure the rain, climb on "grandmother's" lap or examine a spider.
The Kids' Place day-care center at Whitman College was created from scratch by a few parents in search of normal lives for their children.
The 49 preschool patrons of the Kids Place get lots of love and attention and enjoy imaginative activities.
Resources of the college and nearby buildings of this small Washington community provide opportunities not available to most daycare centers.
Big brothers — really fraternity
men from across the street. come every day to help build cities of colored blocks, show which piece of the puzzle fits or serve as an airplane to ride on.
Residents of a senior citizens' home a few blocks away stand in for grandparents.
A drama professor donates time each week to help nourish creative skills and to build confidence through dance. Student volunteers help out, and in return take advantage of a real-life laboratory to explore such topics as early language development or aggression among children.
In the college planetarium, the children take imaginary trips to the stars. They explore a wild world of small animals and birds at the Whitman Museum of Natural History.
States urged to act on malpractice
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Two congressmen warned states yesterday to act or be acted upon by the government and to work quickly to resolve the medical malpractice insurance crisis.
Reps. John Porter, R-III., and Peter Stark, D-Calif., presented the first installment of a five-part General Accounting Office study on the problem, a report whose title indicates the difficulty lawmakers face in solving the issue.
The report, released at a press conference, "Medical Malpractice: No Agreement on Problems or Solutions."
The report concludes the four parties most affected by the malpractice crisis - doctors and health providers, lawyers, insurance companies and consumers - could not agree on limiting monetary damages for pain and suffering or whether a federal role is warranted, among other issues.
The only thing they agreed on was that "this problem is going to get worse in the next five years if nothing is done." Porter said.
Porter and Stark introduced a bipartisan resolution urging states to enact legal and regulatory reforms to help solve the crisis. Among the reforms mentioned is a cap on pain and suffering awards and payment of large awards over time rather than all at once.
"This resolution is a shot across the bow, warning states to act or be acted upon," Porter said, adding that "if the states fail to act, a role for the federal government is inevitable."
Insurance historically has been a state-regulated industry.
Porter said the malpractice and liability insurance problem was getting so bad that "every unit of local government in America is facing a crisis in their coverage or in the premiums."
Doctors and other health providers are not the only ones being hit with skyrocketing insurance premiums,
he said. Local governments are watching their liability rates soar, or having their insurance policies canceled, for the recreational buildings they operate, even when there is no history of lawsuits.
"The people are getting mad about their liability insurance," said Stark, chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on health.
He said the medical profession was "an old boy or old girl fraternity or sorority that won't dump on its members."
He criticized doctors for being too lax in punishing incompetents among them.
Stark said limiting pain and suffering rewards, one of the resolution's proposed reforms, would be tough to pass at the federal level.
Porter, a lawyer, said something must be done to make the system more predictable with regard to cash awards for malpractice. He also said it would be unwise to regulate the fees attorneys get in malpractice and liability cases.
On the Record
A pickup truck, telephone, rifle, television, bolt cutters, electric saw, liquor and an antique hunting knife, valued together at $8,177, were stolen from a Eudora chemical company on Thursday, the Douglas County Sheriff's Department said.
A pump and pulley, valued together at $4,028, were stolen between 4:30 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Friday from a shed near Baldwin belonging to a Colorado oil drilling company, the sheriff's department said.
Hillel
Lunch Wed., Mar. 5
Lunch Wed., Mar. 5
Prof. Norm Forer
"Arab-Jewish Relations on Campus"
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Alcove C
Kansas Union
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