House Votes Military Drug War

WASHINGTON — The House voted 385 to 23 today to order President Reagan to use U.S. military might to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, a move the Pentagon strongly opposes.

The vote approved a proposal backed by conservative Republicans to tell Reagan to “deploy equipment and personnel of the armed forces sufficient to halt the unlawful penetration of United States borders by aircraft and vessels carrying narcotics.” The proposal was added as an amendment to a Pentagon budget bill. The final provisions of the huge bill will be worked out later this year by a House-Senate conference committee after the Senate approves its version of the bill.