48

others when effectiveness and outcomes are otherwise equal. This may require developing new metrics and tools for comparing supply reduction programs and activities or combining those that exist in different ways to provide a more complete picture of the return on investment in the continuum of supply reduction activities. « « « « « « NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY 83 Principle 4: Protect individuals and the environment at home from criminal exploitation by those associated with drug production and trafficking. The abundant supply of illicit substances is costing too many American lives and causing far too much damage to vulnerable communities in the United States and around the world. Global drug trafficking sustains a vast domestic and international criminal ecosystem that enables corruption and destabilizes partner nations abroad. These illicit substances and corresponding criminality contribute to a crisis with considerable national security, public safety and public health implications in the United States, the western hemisphere, and beyond. Furthermore, we recognize the full scope of damaging activities related to illicit drug trafficking includes disproportionately detrimental effects on vulnerable and underrepresented populations at home and abroad and considerable harm to the environment. A. Address the criminal destruction of our protected natural resources due to domestic marijuana grows on public land. (Agencies Involved: DHS; DOD/NGB, NRO; DOI/BLM, NPS, USFWS; DOJ/DEA; EPA; USDA/USFS) Illegal outdoor marijuana cultivation on public and private lands causes substantial harm to the environment and threatens public safety.315 To procure the water needed for the crops, illegal growers dam and divert rivers, streams, and creeks, and tap springs, altering the watershed and depriving the habitat and communities downstream of water. The use of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides by illegal marijuana growers is also a serious threat to wildlife, habitat, and humans encountering these toxic substances and can complicate eradication and reclamation and remediation efforts.316 Some of these substances are so toxic that they are banned or unavailable in the United States, but Homeland Security Investigations, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other federal and state agencies report they are smuggled into the country by trafficking organizations from abroad. Environmental analyses of lands within national parks and forests that had been used for marijuana grow operations show significant environmental degradation stemming from chemical pollution and poor waste management and that contaminants from these operations are poisoning native animal species, including several endangered species.317 To protect the environment and preserve our nation’s public lands and forests, federal, state, local agencies must continue to act against the criminal destruction of our protected natural resources through eradication missions, investigations and prosecutions, and reclamation efforts. We must also improve our ability to identify grow sites under cultivation before the illegal growers can spray them with extremely toxic chemicals. This will enable law enforcement officers to avoid exposure to chemicals such as carbofuran, improve the efficiency of eradication efforts, and reduce the negative environmental impacts of illegal marijuana grows. ONDCP and partner agencies will strongly encourage prosecutors to seek appropriate federal penalties for illegal marijuana grow operations on public lands, especially those involving firearms violations, environmental violations, export of prohibited toxicants, and endangerment of wildlife based upon the fact-specific characteristics of the offender and the offense. ONDCP will also continue to convene the Public Lands Drug Control « « « « « « 84 NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY Committee (PLDCC), the only federal interagency group that coordinates programs to support marijuana eradication operations and investigations on public lands, as well as related intelligence and information sharing. Additionally, agencies must reduce the backlog of reclamation sites, including increasing reclamation of previous season grow sites. We must leverage the full capabilities of the U.S. Government to reduce the supply of illicit substances. This requires fresh thinking, as well as the adoption of evidence-based approaches to improve our whole-of-government approach to drug trafficking, and its direct and indirect effects on communities at home and abroad. The complexity and diffusion of illicit drug supply chains, criminal drug trafficking organizations, and their networks of facilitators demands a renewed commitment by agencies to pool resources and work collaboratively to maximize the effects of our limited resources against drug manufacturing and trafficking organizations with nearly limitless resources. This includes taking greater risks by more openly sharing information across federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial agencies and prioritizing resources for those agencies that do so. It also means prioritizing resources for programs that incentivize information sharing and that enhance collaboration vertically and horizontally across agencies as it is clear that the volume and pace of TCO activity far 

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14  15   16   17   18   19   20   21    22   23   24   25  26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49  50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65