U.S. WAR ON DRUGS ABOUT TO BE RE-EXAMINED

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 as
director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Even more telling was the
fact that Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, an ardent opponent of the
impeachment of President Clinton, appeared at the Senate hearing to praise
Hutchinson, who had been one of the Republican House managers presenting
the case against Clinton to the full Senate.

In his 4 1/2 years in the House, Hutchinson earned a reputation as a
thoughtful conservative and, as liberals like Conyers and Senate Judiciary
Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont affirmed, as a fair-minded advocate.

He 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 primarily a law-enforcement agency, but John Walters, Bush's choice to
head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, has been
awaiting a confirmation hearing since May. Many of the same Democrats who
welcomed Hutchinson 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 his fate is
resolved, Hutchinson is in the hot seat on Bush administration drug policy.

For 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 range from conservatives Bill Buckley and New
Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson to an array of liberals, and they are having an
impact on public opinion. While few agree with the influential British
newspaper, The Economist, which last month laid out at length "the case for
legalizing drugs," many are expressing their doubts about current policies.

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."

A recent issue of the American Prospect magazine pointed to the growing
trend in the states, where initiatives allowing medical use of marijuana or
mandating treatment rather than jail for drug-users win large public
majorities.

Hutchinson was dodgy in his confirmation hearing on the question of sending
federal agents to arrest doctors who prescribe marijuana as a pain- and
nausea-relieving agent for cancer patients and other seriously ill people,
as eight states allow. The Supreme Court held earlier this year that the
feds have that authority. Asked if he would use it, Hutchinson said he
needed to confer with the attorney general, adding that it was important
"that we do not send the wrong signal ... that marijuana use is an
acceptable practice."

But he also applauded a bipartisan bill to expand funding of 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 tests, rather than put them in jail.

Hutchinson took over his DEA duties last week as the Department of Justice
was bragging that more people than ever are in federal prison on drug
charges and are serving longer sentences. That report showed there were
more suspects arrested in 1999 on charges involving marijuana than for
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.

That raises obvious questions about the priorities of federal drug
enforcement agents and prosecutors. No one seems to know how many people
are in state prisons for simple possession of marijuana. But in 1998, those
prisons held 236,800 people convicted on drug charges -- 57 percent more
than had been there in 1990.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
estimated in 1998 that 70 percent to 85 percent of all state prison inmates
- -- not just those convicted on drug charges -- need treatment, but only 13
percent of them get it.

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