THAT WAS ASA IN CONGRESS: THIS IS ASA ON DRUGS

OUR CHOICE to represent Arkansas' Third District in Congress dropped
by the office the other day. He was lucid, informed, enthusiastic,
and dedicated. As puppy-dog eager as any newcomer, but with years of
experience. Yep. This was the guy.

Unfortunately, Asa Hutchinson isn't running for re-election. He has a
new job. The now former congressman from the Third District is the
director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. You know, the
notorious DEA. If he's not the official drug czar in the reign of
Bush II, Asa Hutchinson is, at the least, an agency potentate. He's
the only member of the House of Representatives the White House has
plucked out to work in its administration. And when he visits now, he
brings more than the latest Political Issue of the day. He brings
really cool trinkets--all with Special Agent logos on them. He also
brings a horde of special agents themselves, and assistants to
special agents and various guys with dark sunglasses and inscrutable
demeanors.

Days before he dropped by the newsroom, an advance man cased the
joint. He took notes and marked exits and asked if there were any
protests planned. He looked us over suspiciously and asked our names,
like he couldn't believe knuckleheads like us wrote editorials. He
did everything but talk into his sleeve. Was this a joke? we asked.
Regular ol' Asa never had advance men and bodyguards, not even when
he was a House Manager in the Impeachment Trial and could have used
'em.

But we were relieved to find the new Asa a lot like the old Asa.

House Manager/Congressman Asa: calm, cool, thorough, and businesslike.

DEA ASA: semi-calm, still cool, thorough, and happy as a pig in mud.

You want to see a happy man? Ask a newly ex-politician a political
question of the highly personal variety. For example, what does Asa
Hutchinson think of the accusations of hypocrisy dogging his big
brother, Tim the U.S. Senator, because of his divorce and marriage to
an ex-aide? What does Asa Hutchinson think of the confessional
politics practiced by his nephew, Jim Hendren, who admitted to
infidelity even as he campaigns for Uncle Asa's seat in Congress?

If you're Asa Hutchinson, ex-congressman and vote-seeker, you smile
broadly and answer thusly: No Comment. Then you smile again. Because
you can.

Come to think, Director Hutchinson smiled a lot during his visit.
Indeed, he was beaming. Giddy. Drunk on--no, not that beer he used to
haul across the border in high school--but on the high of getting a
job he clearly wanted. And can't wait to do.

It's a mystery to us. A job as head of the DEA in a country hooked on
drugs, both legal and illegal, sounds about as appealing as a career
in thumbtack repair. Or as productive as selling pork chops at a
vegan commune. But if anybody seems qualified, it's this former
prosecutor and veteran politician.

He'll need both skills. And he seems to know it. He's already saying
all the right things. He says the war/crusade/PR battle against drugs
should not be a case of law enforcement vs. treatment. We need both.
He says he probably shouldn't even use the word "crusade" or anything
else that sounds too much like political jargon. Instead, just get
down to business. He seems to understand that we still got a war, but
we need new weapons rather than old slogans.

HERE'S WHAT really caught our ear: Asa Hutchinson says he wants to
see communities just as committed to stopping drug use as are the
enforcement teams the DEA sends in. In fact, he says he wants to link
the two. If a city calls for help, then he's gonna ask for help back.

He's gonna ask for a commitment from the city--from the schools and
the mayor and the chambers of commerce. He'd like to see schools and
businesses provide counseling and testing for drugs. He'll send in
the cops to clean up the place, but he wants to make sure the drugs
don't come back the minute the DEA turns out the lights. He's even
considering a new initiative (warning: bureaucratese ahead) called
Demand Reduction Teams.

These are the teams that come in after the cops have left. They'll
work with the city to make sure that, once the drug dealers have been
swept off the streets, the demand for more drugs doesn't bring new
dealers right back. It's more of that linkage of busting the drug
dealers while still helping the drug users get clean. It's a
long-term plan meant to heal the disease. Not just a short-term plan
meant to swell the prisons. While the former prosecutor is no slouch
on the enforcement side, he's adopted a telling philosophy: "You're
not going to just arrest your way out of this problem," he says.

ASA HUTCHINSON says he's never done drugs himself, but he knows his
drugs. Ask him about Ecstacy, the current drug of choice for teens
and one that's been making a lot of news here in Arkansas. He calls
it the Hug Drug, because it appeals to lonely kids, makes them feel
as if they fit in. He says he's not sure why the kids feel alone in
the first place, but that's as much a part of the drug problem as the
drug itself. You can't easily separate the two, and it's time to
start asking why.

What a concept: A law enforcement officer who worries about
preventing the crime rather than just busting it.

Ask him about treatments for long-term addiction, and he's open for
suggestions, as are we all. He knows there's a need for both, but he
doesn't confuse prison for a treatment program. What happens to the
addict who gets out of prison and is still an addict? What about the
doctor or lawyer, the father or brother, with a cocaine problem who
disintegrates in the quiet gloom of his living room while his
children watch?

What about the talented young actor, in and out of prison and rehab
centers, who knows he has a drug problem, knows he's destroying his
career and himself, knows he's running out of second, third and
fourth chances, knows that his addiction is akin to putting a loaded
gun in his mouth and his finger on the trigger and knows that, God
help him, "I like the taste of gun metal"?

This, too, is part of the drug culture. A prison term isn't always
the answer. The director mentions that acupuncture has known some
success in treating addicts, though he admits he doesn't know just
why. But maybe that's the new thing we need in this old war: somebody
not afraid to just ask, Why?

This doesn't sound like a law-and-order first, last, only and always
kind of DEA kingpin. Thank goodness. He sounds like a fellow who's
looking for answers to a problem that only seems to be getting
worse--no matter how many public-service commercials we run and how
many drug-free campaigns we spend money on.

Here's to Asa asking a lot more questions. Keep at it, sir. We like
the folks who ask questions. It's the ones who act like they know
what they're doing that worry us. They've been running things for too
long.