Drug Policy Not Eased, Meese Says

WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III Tuesday rejected the suggestion that new limits on the Coast Guard’s seizure of boats on which narcotics have been found signaled a softening of the Administration’s policy of “zero tolerance” toward illicit drugs.

“ ‘Zero tolerance’ continues to be our policy both inside and outside” the United States’ 12-mile coastal limit, Meese told reporters at the Justice Department. “Whenever you have a new policy, there has to be a running-in period” when “operational refinements” are made, he said.

Under the “operational refinement” disclosed this week, ships outside the 12-mile limit will be seized for carrying drugs only when there is evidence of intent to smuggle the narcotics into the United States. A substantial quantity of drugs found aboard the vessel could constitute such evidence, Meese said.

Inside the 12-mile limit, possession of any amount of narcotics is illegal, Meese noted, and could be grounds for seizure of the boat. He said that authorities, in deciding whether to impound a ship, would try to distinguish between drugs being carried with the apparent knowledge of the ship’s officers or owners and drugs being carried by passengers without officers’ or owners’ knowledge.

Recent seizures of ships carrying small amounts of marijuana linked only to passengers have led to criticism of the “zero tolerance” policy.