A BETTER DRUG POLICY: BUSH ADMINISTRATION SHOULD TAKE CUE FROM OUTGOING
DRUG CZAR

The new administration in Washington should heed the advice of the old on
at least one point: Don't declare war on drugs. Instead, put more emphasis
on drugs as a disease to be addressed in many ways, especially with more
resources devoted to treatment and education.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, former director of the White House Office of National
Drug Control Policy, stated these ideas as he left office two weeks ago. He
likened the nation's anti-drug efforts to the battle against cancer. The
results of this disease? About 5 million Americans chronically addicted,
and an estimated 50,000 people dying of drug-related deaths each year,
including through crimes, overdoses and other causes.

Gen. McCaffrey has worked to address the supply side of the drug problem
through international cooperation on interdiction and tough punishment for
the worst drug lords. Indeed, the nation should continue jailing kingpins
and guarding American borders against smuggling.

But he also has urged common sense on the demand side of the equation.
Federal spending on prevention has jumped 55 percent over four years. Gen.
McCaffrey launched a five-year $2 billion anti-drug media campaign. During
the past two years, the country saw a 21 percent decline in drug use by
teen-agers and a 50 percent drop in overall drug use.

There's a growing consensus, across ideological boundaries, that a
tough-on-crime approach alone isn't the answer to the drug problem. George
Shultz, former secretary of state in the Reagan administration, has said
"We have gone overboard in devoting so much money to a penal, as distinct
from a remedial or preventative, approach." Gen. McCaffrey, under a
Democratic president, put it more succinctly: "We can't arrest our way out
of the drug problem."

One out of four of the nation's 2 million inmates is serving time for drug
offenses. Some states continue to imprison non-violent drug offenders for
longer periods than they lock up violent criminals. Many of those prisoners
need aggressive treatment, not time behind bars. Michigan, with some of the
toughest mandatory sentences in the nation, has begun reforms but has a
long way to go to bring equity to its system.

The role that drugs play in public health, especially blood-born diseases
such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis transmitted through needle sharing, needs
more attention. Needle distribution programs that include counseling and
treatment offer a humane solution.

A war implies an easily defined enemy and sharp battle lines. Drug abuse
and addiction have neither. They are diseases that infect neighborhoods and
families. President Bush should keep that in mind as he fashions his own
policy on drugs.