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State/Local
The Battalion Thursday, Nov. 17, 1988 Page 3
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Smuggling awareness program
asks public’s help in war on drugs
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aalswoiil John P. McDermott, public affairs
teneMei )ffi cer w hh the United States Cus
toms Service, said the Customs Serv-
ce has created a Drug Smuggling
Awareness Program to stimulate
awareness of drug smuggling along
the southwestern border of the
nited States.
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By Juliette Rizzo
Staff Writer
The war on drugs is not a job for
In the lecture series “Drugs: A
Modern Dilemma,” sponsored by
MSC Political Forum, McDermott
spoke about fighting the flow of
drugs across our nation’s borders.
Smugglers will do anything to
bring in a profit, he said.
“Smugglers will bring in illegal
drugs anywhere they can find a hole
incur defense,” he said. “It is our re
sponsibility to prevent smuggling.”
Today, Customs means many
things to many people, he added.
“For the tourist, we are the people
in blue who check baggage at the air
port,” he said. “To the international
drug trafficker, we are the enemy
who endangers drugs. To the ship
captains or captains of other vessels,
we are the experts who determine
whether their shipment of pre-Co
lombian art has been legally im
ported into the country.”
As a law enforcement agency, the
Customs Service now serves 300
ports of entry into the United States.
They maintain a constant watch over
all U.S. land and sea borders.
To counter the threat of smug
gling, the Service monitors border
areas using extensive air and land
surveillance programs.
The surveillance operation along
the southwestern U.S. border is
known as Operation Alliance. Six
aerostats are strategically positioned
to detect low flying aircraft. The bal
loons contain the most sophisticated
radar systems available.
McDermott said the area is heavilv
monitored, because it is through this
area that one-third of all cocaine,
marijuana and heroine is smuggled
into the United States. Twenty seven
percent of worldwide smuggling ac
tion takes place near the U.S.-Mex
ico border, he said.
The Marine Air Force Base in
California also installed a hew radar
system that can monitor all air traffic
from San Diego to Brownsville. It is
so sophisticated that it can deter
mine the difference between com
mercial, military, private and law en
forcement planes, he said. ,
McDermott said monitoring drug
smuggling is “like a football game
where we put in the defense and
they attack it.”
He said that for the United States
to defend against this attack, the
Customs Service must make citizens
more aware of illegal smuggling.
“We are calling upon each citizen
to give us a hand,” he said. “By re
porting suspicious actions and peo
ple to Customs we can plug our gap
in defense.”
Citizens who become aware of any
suspicious activity that might be
smuggling-related can call 1-800-
BE-ALERT 24 hours a day. Customs
will pay cash rewards for any infor
mation leading to the arrest of a
smuggler or the seizure of illegal
substances. Sources who provide in
formation will remain completely
anonymous.
27 seizures of illegal substances
have resulted from more than 8,000
phone calls, he said. One such call
led to the confiscation of 1,200
pounds of cocaine.
McDermott said he thinks the
Drug Smuggling Awareness Pro
gram has been successful so far.
“If we cooperate and share infor
mation,” he said, “we can turn from
losing the war on drugs to winning
it. We can seal off the air and force
smugglers down to the ground
where we can deal with them.”
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By Denise Thompson
Staff Writer
The walking cigarette butt at Hu
mana Hospital today may raise a few
eyebrows, but the costume is meant
to encourage smokers to quit the
habit as part of The Great American
Smokeout.
The employee disguised as a ciga
rette is only part of the hospital’s
“Nip it in the Butt” campaign. The
main goal of the campaign is to keep
employees cigarette-free for the day,
and possibly forever, Nick Ander
son, a public relations intern at Hu
mana, said.
“Even though hospital employees
know smoking is bad for them, there
is a vast number of people in the
hospital who smoke,” Anderson
said. “And this is one of the first
places we need to stop it, because
we’re a role model for health care.”
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Humana is sponsoring three
other activities to promote the Smo-
Great American I i
SMOKEOUT
AMERICAN
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SOCIETY
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keout. A treasure hunt is the main
event.
“During the treasure hunt, people
will turn in their cigarettes in ex
change for a treasure map and
clues,” Anderson said. “For exam
ple, they take the map and one of
the clues could be, ‘You’ll breathe
easier at this point,’ and that would
mean that they follow the map to
respiratory therapy.”
After successfully completing the
treasure hunt, participants will be
treated to a reception that will in
clude a drawing for prizes.
“After the treasure hunt, they’ll
go to the reception where we’ll serve
them cold turkey sandwiches and
drinks,” he said. “Also, we’ll draw
names from a lottery made up of
people who have successfully com
pleted the treasure hunt and suc
cessfully refrained from smoking to
see who wins the prizes.”
The hospital also is sponsoring an
Adopt-A-Smoker program. Non
smoking hospital employees will “a-
dopt” for the day an employee who
smokes. The adopters provide
smokers the moral support needed
to refrain from smoking during the
Smokeout, Anderson said.
“The adopters are supposed to do
anything they can to keep their part
ners from smoking,” he said. “They
can provide little toys, or do some
thing like handcuff them some
where to keep them from smoking.”
Humana also is sponsoring a pro
gram for babies who are born today,
Anderson said.
“We are going to be giving all
newborns in the hospital today a T-
shirt that says, ‘I was born a non-
smoker,’ ” he said.
Drug authority says
alcohol most abused
drug in United States
By Sharon Maberry
Staff Writer
Alcohol is the most widely-
abused drug in America, a
spokesman for the Center for
Drug Prevention and Education
at A&M said Wednesday.
“Alcohol is, by far, the most
damage-causing and expensive
mood-altering drug in the coun
try,” Dr. Dennis Reardon said.
His speech was part of the E.L.
Miller’s Lecture Series about
“Drugs: The Modern Dilemma,”
sponsored by MSC Political Fo
rum.
“Let there be no mistake,”
Reardon said. “Alcohol is a
drug.”
Three times as many alcohol
abusers than drug abusers are ad
mitted to state-supported treat
ment centers, Reardon said. Less
than 10 percent of the people
who drink consume 50 percent of
the alcohol produced in the
United States.
Although alcohol is the most
abused drug, other drugs are se
verely abused, he said. Mari
juana, a “soft” drug, has been
tried at least once by 33 percent
of the American population older
than 12, he said, and 10 percent
of the population over age 12 has
used it within the last 30 days.
Cocaine, a “hard” drug, has
been tried at least once by 12 per
cent of Americans, and 3 percent
report themselves as current us
ers, he said.
Drug abuse has a direct impact
on all Americans.
“Each one of us pays about
$1,000 annually for people suf
fering from alcohol and drug
abuse,” he said. In 1987, drug re
habilitation cost the United States
$201 billion.
Signs of drug abuse include
mood changes, irritability, lack of
motivation and denial of a drug
problem, Reardon said.
The first step to help someone
with a drug abuse problem is to
get information from a profes
sional, he said.
“That’s what the Center for
Drug Prevention and Education
is here for,” he said.
Reardon listed other ways to
help drug abusers:
• Show concern for them and
be involved.
• Don’t challenge or accuse
them, but let them know how
their behavior affects others. It
might even be necessary to avoid
them, he said, especially when
they are doing drugs.
2 A&M students
assaulted in CS
Two Texas A&M students were
sexually assaulted in their College
Station apartment early Tuesday
morning by an unknown attacker.
The attacker, who reportedly had
a gun, assaulted the women at about
3:30 a.m. in the Brownstone apart
ment complex.
College Station Police officers
were dispatched to the the apart
ments at about 4 a.m. after receiving
a report of a screaming woman be
ing chased by a male with a gun.
The officers discovered that the
attacker had entered the apartment
and assaulted the woman.
The students were taken to Hu
mana Hospital in College Station.
A police spokesman said the at
tacker was described as a 6-foot tall
black man weighing 180 to 200
pounds.
He is 25 to 30 years old and was
wearing a blue, black and gray flan
nel shirt and dark pants.
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Just their signatuie.
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