Brown, Lee

Lee Paul Brown (1937–) is known for his role as the first African American mayor of the city of Houston, Texas. In addition to his political service, Brown had an extensive career in law enforcement that spanned four decades. He achieved national recognition as the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) under President Bill Clinton. Brown held the “drug czar” position, as the directorship became known, from 1993 to 1996. During his time as the ONDCP director, Lee Brown faced congressional opposition to his continued efforts to fight the “drug war” through increased federal funding for drug treatment and prevention programs.

Lee Brown received his Master's degree in criminology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1968. Brown returned to Berkeley to earn his Ph.D., also in criminology, and completed the program in 1970. In addition to his academic achievements at Berkeley, Brown obtained a master's degree in sociology from San Jose State, which he completed in 1964; and a bachelor's degree in criminology from California State University at Fresno, which Brown finished in 1961.

In 1960 Lee Brown began his career in law enforcement as a police officer in the San Jose Police Department. Brown also served as the Sheriff of Mutnomah County in Oregon from January 1975 through June 1976. His rise in prominence within the law enforcement community came as the public safety commissioner for the city of Atlanta, where Brown and his staff solved the Atlanta child murders case. Brown served in Atlanta from 1978 to 1982. In 1982 Brown was appointed as the chief of police for the city of Houston, Texas, becoming the first African American appointed to that position. He held that post until 1990, when he stepped down to take the job of New York City police commissioner. Brown remained in that position until 1992.

President Clinton raised the director of ONDCP to a cabinet-level position. On June 16, 1993, the United States Senate voted unanimously to confirm Lee Brown as the director of the ONDCP. Soon thereafter, in September 1993, Brown introduced the Interim National Drug Control Strategy. The plan relied on four drug control initiatives: (1) a collective government effort to reduce demand, (2) a reduction in drug-related violence through increasing the expansion of community policing, (3) the empowerment of families to take responsibility and [Page 105]of communities to fight against drugs and violence, and (4) a shift in interdiction efforts from transit zones to source countries.

In February 1994 Director Brown announced the ONDCP's National Drug Control Strategy, which was based on the interim strategy that had been initiated the prior year. The new policy emphasized the treatment of hard-core drug users. Brown recognized that this specific class of drug offenders consumed a majority of the illegal drugs and were also responsible for a disproportionate amount of the nation's violent crime. Additionally, the ONDCP's newly defined strategy reemphasized the necessity to control the influx of illegal drugs from the source.

Brown's new policy signified a change in direction from prior ONDCP plans. The primary emphases switched from enforcement and incarceration to treatment and prevention. In fact, the proposed drug control budget included $355 million toward increasing treatment efforts. Brown also rejected the notion that legalizing drugs would aid in the reduction of drug abuse and drug-related violence.

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