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In October
1996, the White House asked the Director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy and the Secretary of Transportation to present recommendations
to him within 90 days that would meet two goals: reduce the incidence
of drug use by teens and reduce driving under the influence of drugs in
general. The President's directive
specifically requested that the recommendations consider the following
points: (1) drug testing for minors applying for driver licenses; (2)
zero tolerance laws that make it illegal to drive with any amount of an
illicit drug in the driver's body; (3) driver license revocation for persons
driving under the influence of drugs; (4) driver license revocation for
other drug offenses; (5) methods to improve identification and prosecution
of drivers impaired by drugs; (6) federal incentives for effective state
programs to fight drugged driving; and (7) technologies to assist law
enforcement to identify drivers impaired by drugs and/or alcohol.
A task force, led
by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP), and including representatives from the Department
of Education (DOEd), Health and Human Services (DHHS), and Justice (DOJ)
studied the issues. The task force reviewed relevant background information,
consulted with interested agencies, organizations, and constituencies
(including almost 6,000 youth in 27 states, the District of Columbia,
the Cherokee Nation and the Virgin Islands), considered possible remedies,
and drafted recommendations for consideration. Their recommendations were
published in March 1997, in a report titled Presidential Initiative
on Drugs, Driving and Youth (DOT HS 808 560).
Funding was requested
to implement the recommendations specified in the report. Limited funding
was awarded. As a result, meetings were held with the various federal
agencies on how to best implement the President's initiatives. One critical
issue was the need to make law enforcement executives aware that youth
are over-represented in crashes and under-represented in citations issued
and convictions for charged offenses. There was agreement that a law enforcement
executive summit should be held to provide current information on what
federal agencies could offer and for law enforcement agencies to share
information with one another on what is currently being done and what
remains to be done to address the programs with youth, drugs, and driving.
On February 24, 2000, the IACP and NHTSA, hosted the Law Enforcement Executive Summit on Drugs, Driving and Youth, in Alexandria, Virginia. This summit brought together 63 state and local law enforcement executives to focus on the issue of youth alcohol, other drugs and driving. This is a summary report on the summit. |