Border Busts

An American traveler returning home from Europe has two marijuana cigarettes stashed in his toilet kit. Looking through the passenger's luggage, a Customs official discovers the small cache. In the past the official might have levied a perfunctory fine. In accordance with a new get-tough policy that took effect last week, however, U.S. Customs officers will now arrest, book and fingerprint every person entering the country with illicit drugs, no matter how small the amount.

The new program, approved two weeks ago by the National Drug Policy Board, chaired by Attorney General Edwin Meese, is part of a larger Reagan Administration antidrug crusade known as "Zero Tolerance." The crackdown reflects the Administration's new "user accountability" strategy, which seeks to get occasional or moderate drug users to kick the habit by increasing the likelihood of some kind of penalty. The goal is to cut down on the flow of drugs into the country by curtailing domestic consumption. "If people know they will be arrested for bringing a gram of coke into this country, they will think twice," says U.S. Customs Commissioner William von Raab.

At least two dozen people were arrested during the first week, but the number is likely to grow. A test program at the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests since it began in December 1986. The national program will adopt the San Diego approach, in which suspects are charged with both illegal importation of drugs, a felony, and simple possession, a misdemeanor. Most are then offered a deal: if they plead guilty to the misdemeanor, the Government will drop the felony count and the magistrate will grant deferred prosecution, which means that the suspect's record will be wiped clean if he stays out of trouble for one year. More than 99% of those nabbed at San Ysidro pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor, and were fined between $100 and $1,000 and sentenced to supervised probation or ordered to commit themselves to a drug-rehabilitation program.