HUTCHINSON'S TURN: DEA HEAD CAN LEAD IN A NEW DIRECTION OR FAIL

As Asa Hutchinson, the former congressman and new Bush appointed
administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency, makes his first trip across
the United States, it's hard not to compare him to Michael Douglas, the
actor who played the hapless but earnest fictional DEA chief in the searing
movie "Traffic." In an editorial board meeting with The Sacramento Bee,
Hutchinson urged the American people not to give in to the cynicism that
the film about the international drug wars invites. Still, he acknowledged
"Traffic's" realism, particularly its portrayal of deep corruption among
Mexico's highest-ranking drug police.

In fact, when he met with Mexican President Vicente Fox, Hutchinson said
Fox told him that he thought that the movie's depiction of Mexican law
enforcement was accurate. Despite that, the Hutchinson-headed DEA is moving
forward in partnership with Mexican agents -- only vetted agents (those not
on the drug lords' payrolls), Hutchinson assured the editorial board -- to
stem the flow of drugs from that country to ours.

Frankly, it's hard not to be cynical about the international drug wars, and
the DEA's leadership of it. The United States has pledged $1.3 billion to
finance interdiction efforts in Colombia, a dubious venture that even
Hutchinson acknowledged is "a risk." The new "Plan Colombia" follows recent
DEA admissions that the amount of cocaine producedc in that South American
country is almost three times greater than the agency previously estimated,
this after years and billions of dollars in anti-drug efforts there.

Closer to home, Gilbert Bruce, leader of the DEA's San Francisco office who
accompanied Hutchinson, said the agency's effort to combat the
methamphetamine trade in the Central Valley has succeeded in squeezing out
the small operators, only to see them replaced by more sophisticated
organized crime elements from Mexico. Even the efforts to stop the sale of
chemicals used to make meth, Bruce says, have prompted traffickers to
search out alternative ingredients and concoct new, more explosive and more
dangerous meth recipes. "Soon we're going to have to control dirt as a
precursor chemical," he added. A joke, yes, but an acknowledgment of the
frustration experienced by the most capable and veteran drug warriors.

The overwhelming approval of Proposition 36, last year's initiative that
mandated treatment instead of incarceration for nonviolent drug users,
suggests that the public is losing faith in law enforcement's ability to
solve the nation's drug problem. Hutchinson says that more treatment is
needed. He sees "a shift, not a diminished support for law enforcement," in
the public's attitudes.

More than a slight shift is at work here. People who hate drugs, including
ordinary citizens and even police and prosecutors, are beginning to doubt
that the DEA approach, with its heavy emphasis on law enforcement, can
solve the nation's drug problem. As the new head of the DEA, Hutchinson
needs to acknowledge those legitimate doubts. He can either help lead the
nation deeper into the morass or help to find a way out.