NEW DRUG CZAR WITH OLD IDEAS

On taking office, John P. Walters, the new drug czar, said: "Our country
has made great progress in the past in reducing drug use, and we will do it
again."

It's a memorable line.

It ranks up there with Major Gen. John Sedgwick's remark, meant to reassure
nervous troops, that a sharpshooter "couldn't hit an elephant at this range."

The unfortunate general uttered those words just before the fatal shot hit
home.

The problem with Walters' remark is that our country has not made great
progress in the past. It has been no more successful at winning the war on
drugs than Gen. Sedgwick was at warding off sharpshooters' bullets.

The government has, for four decades, thrown increasingly greater amounts
of money at efforts to stop drugs from getting into this country. The
amount of drugs getting in has continued to rise.

That pattern is well documented.

Ironically, the best documentation is by the federal agencies that are
supposed to be curtailing drug imports. Each year, these agencies go to
Congress, asking for more money. The reason they need more money is that
the supply of illegal drugs is increasing.

In the private sector, if you ask for more money for new programs, you'd
better produce results.

That doesn't apply to the drug czar's office.

Walters is not new to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He was
its deputy director for supply reduction when William Bennett was drug czar
and Bush's father was in the White House.

While the former president had his successes, curbing drug imports was not
among them.

The policies that were in place then failed. It was an era of rapid
expansion of the Colombian cartels -- and rapid expansion of the cash
flowing through the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The failed policy continued through the Clinton Administration. So did the
increases in funding.

On his return to the drug policy office, Walters will oversee $19 billion
in anti-drug programs.

Walters has championed several standard policies.

He's for tough criminal penalties for drug users. He's against the use of
marijuana for medical purposes. He supports the drug-certification program
that is so hated in Mexico.

All those policies have been in place a long time. If you see the War on
Drugs as something that has made "great progress," you can look forward to
Walters' energetic continuation of these policies with hope. If you don't
see that progress, you see little promise in Walters' appointment.

What is needed is a new approach to drug policy.

There is no prospect for winning this war on drugs as it is now being
fought because this business is so profitable.

What could take the profit out?

A sharp decrease in American consumption.

What will it take to do that?

More credible efforts to convince individual Americans to stop a behavior
that is destructive individually and socially. More money for the treatment
of addicts. Less money wasted on locking up people whose only crime is
their addiction.

That would be a start. But to get to the starting line we're going to have
to try some new ideas. The most needed new idea is a frank admission that
what we've done so far hasn't been adequate.