New DEA Boss Has Formidable Challenge

U.S. 'WAR ON DRUGS' FAILING; NATION NEEDS NEW APPROACH

The high esteem in which former Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is held by
his colleagues was demonstrated by the 98-1 Senate vote confirming him last
month as the new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA.

In his 4 1/2 years in the House, Hutchinson, a former U.S. attorney, earned
an estimable reputation as a thoughtful conservative and, as liberals like
Conyers ad Patrick Leahy of Vermont affirmed, as a fair-minded advocate.

Hutchinson will need all his skills in his new job, for the nation is
clearly about to embark on a long-overdue debate on the so-called "war on
drugs." The DEA is, as the name implies, primarily a law- enforcement
agency, but John Walters, Bush's choice to head the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy, has been in limbo, awaiting a confirmation
hearing since May.

Many Democrats have argued that Walters' hard-line approach, emphasizing
interdiction and incarceration over education and treatment, makes him the
wrong choice for "drug czar." At least until Walters' fate is resolved,
Hutchinson is in the hot seat on Bush administration policy toward drugs.

During the last three decades, the United States has invested billions in
fighting the scourge of drugs, and more and more serious people are
questioning its effectiveness. The critics are from both parties, and they
are impacting public opinion.

A Pew Research Center survey last February found that three out of four
Americans believe "we are losing the drug war," and by a margin of 52
percent to 35 percent they said drug use "should be treated as a disease,
not a crime."

Hutchinson has dodged questions about medicinal use of marijuana but also
applauded a bipartisan bill to expand funding of drug treatment programs,
especially for prisoners and youths, and to increase the number of drug
courts, where judges can order nonviolent drug offenders to undergo
treatment and continuing tests, rather than put them in jail.

Hutchinson took over his DEA duties last week at the same time the
Department of Justice reported there were more suspects arrested in 1999 on
charges involving marijuana than for powder or crack cocaine. A higher
portion of the marijuana suspects who wound up in federal prison were
simply users than was the case with any of the hard drugs.

And in 1998, state prisons held 57 percent more people convicted on drug
charges than in 1990.

The whole "war on drugs" cries out for re-examination.