By KRWG News
El Paso – The government's updated security plan for the U.S.-Mexico border keeps its focus on trying to stop drug and gun smuggling but contains an added emphasis on preventing and treating drug use in communities along the border.
Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske (ker-lih-KOW'-skee) and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano unveiled the updated plan Thursday in the Arizona border city of Nogales.
Kerlikowske says efforts over the past two years have rightly focused on border security, but he believes there has to be a holistic approach that confronts America's demand for illegal drugs.
Kerlikowske, whose office prepared the plan, says the country can't arrest its way out of its drug problems.
Paul Babeu, sheriff of nearby Pinal County, says the federal government isn't doing enough to secure the border.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.