Bumper Stickers Would Brand Offenders : Official Wants Drug Fight Elevated to ‘War Footing’

U.S. Customs Commissioner William von Raab has urged a raft of new anti-drug measures to put the nation on “a war footing,” including military maneuvers to stop smuggling along the Mexican border, bumper stickers to identify convicted drug offenders and denial of federal subsidies to landlords who fail to certify that their dwellings are drug-free.

Von Raab, originator of the government’s controversial “zero tolerance” policy against drug offenders, submitted 38 proposals to Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, chairman of the National Drug Policy Board, in a letter obtained Friday by The Times.

Von Raab’s proposals were reviewed by a unit of the board Thursday, along with ideas from other federal agencies, and they left some of his federal law enforcement counterparts unimpressed and unreceptive.

“He’s showboating,” said a key official who requested anonymity. “He’s running for something in New York, and he wants to raise his profile--at least, that’s the word around the Administration.”

Von Raab at one time considered running against former Virginia Gov. Charles S. Robb for an open Senate seat in Virginia. There have also been rumors that he would seek the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s bid for reelection in New York.

The drug policy panel will examine the ideas from Von Raab and others and present recommendations to an executive-congressional task force called for by President Reagan last week.

Von Raab, an outspoken maverick in the drug fight who once unsuccessfully recommended that planes suspected of carrying drugs be shot down, has won praise for effectiveness and criticism for zealotry. The sweeping nature of his newest proposals reflects the intensity of an election-year issue that has climbed to the top of opinion polls, provoked a flurry of activity in Congress and heated up congressional and presidential campaigns.

One Von Raab idea calls for disrupting the illegal drug market by flooding it with “benign, look-alike pseudonarcotics.”

Amnesty for Pilots

Another proposal, aimed at curtailing massive air imports of cocaine and marijuana into the United States, would offer amnesty to pilots who surrender voluntarily to law officers.

And, to help finance drug education programs, Von Raab suggests the sale of “drug war bonds” and a $2 check-off on income tax returns, earmarking funds for the fight against drug abuse.

“We must move to put our country on a war footing with regard to drugs,” the Customs Service chief declared in his letter to Meese. “While most of these proposals have a practical value, they also could help to create a moral climate in which all citizens will feel that they are an active part of the war on drugs.”

In proposing military maneuvers along the Mexican border and off the coast of drug-producing countries such as Colombia, Von Raab said that they “could be conducted jointly with source country governments, but they should also be conducted unilaterally in international waters if need be.”

Bumper Stickers Urged

The commissioner further urged that state and local governments be encouraged to place stickers on car windows or bumpers to identify convicted drug offenders. Such offenders should be required to register with police when they move into a community, he said. And drug offenders should have to report to the Customs Service when entering or leaving the United States, he added.

Von Raab proposed also that states suspend or revoke driver’s licenses of persons caught at the border with drugs. He said that federal officials should report such arrests to local newspapers and professional associations or licensing authorities.

Under of the heading of “punish all drug offenders,” Von Raab argued that there should be no lenient treatment for juveniles. “All persons involved with distributing or selling drugs should be treated as an adult,” he said.

Solutions for Logjams

In addressing the problem of prosecutorial logjams, Von Raab proposed deputizing state and local judges as federal magistrates to handle drug cases, getting law students to help federal prosecutors, creating special “drug courts” and encouraging former judges to come out of retirement for drug cases.

In addition, Von Raab criticized U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, protesting that he has led public awareness efforts on AIDS and smoking while remaining “nearly silent” on “the No. 1 health problem . . . drugs.”

Staff writer Ronald J. Ostrow contributed to this story.