DRUG WAR NEGLECTED

Almost seven weeks into his administration, President George Bush has yet
to appoint a drug czar. For a nation in which addiction has become a
chronic problem and drugs take a devastating toll, that does not inspire
confidence.

There are three names on the short list for director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy - former Rep. Bill McCollum, Florida
Republican, Florida drug czar James McDonough and Maricopa County, Ariz.,
Prosecutor Rick Romley.

Robert B. Charles, former chief of staff to the House Speaker's Task Force
on Drugs, believes Mr. McCollum is the ideal candidate. Mr. Charles told
me: "McCollum was a congressional leader on drugs. He pioneered legislation
on drug-free workplaces. He worked closely with local activists and
professionals in the areas of prevention, treatment and enforcement. And he
has the stature to command instant attention."

The White House is divided between those who know the issue and are deeply
concerned, and those who view it as just another thing to be handled. The
latter favor dropping the drug policy director from the Cabinet. They don't
seem to understand that while the public may not particularly care if the
trade rep has Cabinet rank, it firmly believes the leader of our national
anti-drug effort should.

During the campaign, Mr. Bush addressed the issue only once. "From 1979 to
1992, our nation confronted drug abuse successfully," Mr. Bush reminded us.
"It was one of the best public-policy successes of the 1980s."

He did not exaggerate. In those years, high-school seniors who were current
drug users dropped from 38.9 percent to 14.4 percent. Under Mr. Clinton,
the drug culture rebounded. Last year, 25.1 percent of seniors used drugs
in the past 30 days.

Drug-related emergency-room admissions are at a historic high - more than
555,000 in 1999. Illegal drugs cost America $300 billion annually in
health-care expenditures, crime and lost productivity. The human cost is
incalculable.

Does the president understand that the success of the 1980s was due to
tough law enforcement as well as effective education? At times, it seems
Mr. Bush believes if he throws enough money at faith-based charities that
work with addicts, the problem would disappear. (Unless he can give those
charities guns and the addresses of dealers, too, that won't happen.)

In the meantime, a decade of neglect has taken its toll. Eight states and
the District of Columbia have passed medicinal pot measures, a significant
step toward legalization. Billionaries like George Soros have poured
millions into these initiatives, with no one except mom-and-pop anti-drug
groups to oppose them.

Hollywood has rejoined the ranks of pushers. "American Beauty," winner of
five Oscars last year, romanticized drug use. "Traffic," a best-picture
nominee this year, is meant to show the futility of the law-enforcement
approach to drugs.

Robert Downey Jr. was the cover boy in a recent issue of Newsweek that
argued the drug war is a failure and addicts should be treated, not
imprisoned. But Mr. Downey only seeks treatment when he's in criminal court.

Wanted: a drug czar like William J. Bennett - who will bang the bully
pulpit till the wood splits, confront the drug lobby in the ballot arena,
and not neglect supply reduction and punishment.

As Mr. Bennett pointed out in an article in the Feb. 18 edition of The
Washington Post, treatment (which drug defeatists would substitute for
everything else) has a modest success rate.

Only half who begin treatment programs complete them, and 25 percent of
those relapse within five years. Thus, just 38 percent who enter rehab are
cured. Besides, many addicts would never get treatment without a prison
sentence hanging over their heads. Limiting supply, trough interdiction and
the incarceration of dealers, is far more effective.

The key to success is a coordinated approach - reduce supplies, limit
sources and make punishment so severe it deters casual users, from whose
ranks hard-core addicts come. Combine this with treatment and education.

Drugs claimed the lives 15,973 kids in 1998. Mr. Bush says he wants to cut
taxes because he cares about families. But no one's teen-ager ever
overdosed on marginal tax rates.