ADVICE FOR THE NEXT DRUG CZAR

Gov. Jeb Bush recently held a summit on drug policy in Tallahassee. He
reiterated the ambitious plan announced in 1999: to reduce the use of
illegal drugs in Florida by 50 percent over five years.

We hope that President Bush will follow his brother's example and fight
aggressively to reduce drug use. As former heads of the nation's fight
against illegal drugs, we offer him this advice:

* Prevention is the best medicine. The drug czar's most important job is to
promote a clear message: Drug use is dangerous. The intellectual elites
laughed at Nancy Reagan's motto, ``Just Say No.'' Children did not, for it
was simple and effective.

* Support parents' groups. During the 1980s, when drug use among children
plummeted (decreasing 63 percent among high school seniors); they were the
leaders in the anti-drug movement. Bush already has taken steps toward this
goal in announcing his intention to fund the training of a nationwide
Parents Drug Corps.

* Prepare for new drug threats. While the crack-cocaine epidemic of the
1990s has passed, methamphetamine and Ecstasy are growing in popularity,
especially among the young. In 1999 more than a million Americans used meth,
more than used crack and almost three times as many as used heroin. Meth is
devastating and provides a high that lasts six times as long as that of
crack or cocaine. These new synthetic drugs are cheap and far too easy to
obtain; many of them are manufactured in the United States.

* Supply reduction is demand reduction. When drugs are more plentiful,
cheaper and purer, more people become addicted. Increased drug supply leads
to higher levels of drug demand and to greater amounts of social harm. We
need to be firm in pursuing, arresting and punishing those who sell and
traffic in illegal drugs.

* Develop a plan for interdiction. Simply spending more money to intercept
drugs overseas and crossing our borders is insufficient. We need a
well-developed supply-reduction strategy that takes into account political,
military and geographic factors.

* Law enforcement and treatment work together. Those who want to move the
war on drugs from the criminal to the medical arena neglect the fact that
laws against drug use promote effective treatment. Successful treatment is a
function of the longevity of treatment, and, for most addicts, the longevity
of treatment is a function of coercion, being forced into treatment - by a
loved one, an employer or by the law.

* Fight legalization. More threatening than the efforts to medicalize drugs
are the efforts to legalize drugs. These efforts - often well funded - argue
that the costs of waging a war on drugs outweigh the benefits.

The advocates of drug legalization ignore the human costs of overdose
deaths, drug- addicted newborns, broken homes and broken hearts.

* Speak the truth about the war on drugs. We need to counter a pernicious
myth cited by drug-legalization supporters: that we have lost the war on
drugs. That is not so.

The number of Americans currently using illegal drugs peaked in 1979, when
25.4 million people used drugs monthly or more often. By 1992 that number
was down to 12 million - an achievement that is even more impressive,
considering that the population increased by 25 million over the same
13-year period. In Florida, the rate of youth drug use is the third-lowest
in the nation.

With the right combination of efforts on the legal, international, medical
and moral fronts, we - in Florida and in America - can reduce drug use even
more.