CUT THE DEMAND, TOO

There are two ways to combat drug abuse in the United States: The federal
government can make a show of talking and acting tough, or it can actually
try to accomplish something -- by balancing efforts to crack down on drug
suppliers with better treatment for the people who actually buy drugs.

John Walters, touted by Bush administration officials as the nation's
next drug czar, will have to choose between the two approaches if he
is confirmed for the post. But to judge from some of his past
comments, he seems to favor the wrong one: an emphasis on law
enforcement alone.

Mr. Walters worked in the White House drug office under former
President Bush's drug czar, William Bennett, and he served briefly
under former President Clinton. Mr. Bennett's focus was on putting
police and military pressure on drug producers abroad, and Mr. Walters
quit in protest when the Clinton administration tried to shift
anti-drug money toward treatment and prevention.

Granted, it is important to try to stem the flow of narcotics into the
United States and catch drug traffickers within the nation's borders.
The imprisonment of so many drug criminals during the 1990s, many
experts say, is part of the reason why crime dropped so precipitously
during the second half of the decade.

Moreover, reducing the availability of drugs and driving up their
prices might well force some drug users onto the wagon sooner rather
than later.

But it is hard to believe that the threat of criminal sanctions -- or
knowledge of the health risks -- will prompt heroin, cocaine and other
hard-drug users to kick their habits. And as long as there are
millions of Americans who cannot fight their addictions, there will be
a lucrative drug trade. If drugs can find their way into nation's
prisons -- and by all accounts they do -- they can certainly penetrate
thousands of miles of coastlines and porous international borders.

One has to question why, as a nation, we are so eager to crack down on
drug producers in other countries but so reluctant to offer much
besides jail time to the Americans who are actually using drugs.

The Clinton administration's efforts to encourage drug treatment
didn't go far enough, but in 1996 Mr. Walters disparaged them as
reflective of a "therapeutic state in which government serves as the
agent of personal rehabilitation." Yet advocates of drug treatment
aren't talking about helping angst-ridden yuppies re-actualize their
self-esteem, as Mr. Walters seemed to be implying. These advocates are
trying to keep drug abusers from killing themselves, and to turn them
into productive citizens rather than lifelong wards of the
correctional system.

So far, Mr. Walters has kept quiet about his impending nomination to
the drug-control post. People can change their opinions over the
years, and Mr. Walters should use the confirmation process to explain
the role he would assign to treatment. While reducing the supply of
drugs is one way to stop drug abuse, it is also crucial to reduce the
demand.