‘Zero Tolerance’ Drug Policy Eased

SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Coast Guard no longer will board boats just to search for drugs under the “zero tolerance” program, the force’s top official said.

“We will not seize a vessel for zero tolerance alone,” Adm. Paul Yost, Coast Guard commandant, told the editorial board of the San Diego Union on Friday. “We won’t go after a vessel unless we suspect other wrongdoing and won’t seize the vessel unless the U.S. attorneys are willing to embrace the case and prosecute.”

The Coast Guard led the Reagan Administration’s get-tough drug program that called for confiscating boats and cars returning to the country if they contained drugs--even down to the smallest amount of marijuana seeds and drug paraphernalia.

The program was launched in May. It was criticized after highly publicized seizures included that of a federally funded research vessel, the Atlantis II, off the San Diego coast. Drug-sniffing dogs found the remains of two marijuana cigarettes in a crew member’s gear.

Much of the confiscated property has been returned without charges being filed.