DRUG CZAR EMPHASIZES PREVENTION, TREATMENT

The Issue: Barry McCaffrey, Departing Director Of The Office Of National
Drug Contol Policy, Emphasizes Prevention And Treatment In Dealing With The
Drug Problem.

Our View: The State Should Do More To Fund Drug Treatment Programs.

RETIRED Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who is leaving his post as director of the
Office of National Drug Control Policy, had a reputation as a hard-liner in
the war on drugs. But his farewell message suggests that was misleading.

Rather than law enforcement, McCaffrey emphasizes prevention and treatment.
He boasts of having increased federal spending on prevention by 55 percent
over the past four years. His office, he said, funded anti-drug coalitions
in 307 communities and launched a five-year, $2 billion anti-drug media
campaign.

"America has learned that we can't arrest our way out of the drug problem,"
McCaffrey declares. "We've gone to extremes in limiting judicial discretion
and over-relying on mandatory sentences."

He calls for greater efforts at rehabilitation of those convicted on drug
charges, abandoning what he called "a predominantly punitive approach" in
favor of a system that provides convicts "with a realistic chance of
reintegration into society."

He acknowledges that the United States is not doing enough to provide
treatment to the drug addicted, estimating that 5 million drug users would
benefit from immediate treatment but only 2 million receive it.

Still, spending on substance-abuse prevention and treatment rose to an
annual level of $12.6 billion over the past decade, with public spending
accounting for $7.6 billion of that total. His office's five-year planning
budget calls for an additional $25 billion for treatment.

However, McCaffrey insists that "much more must be done by state and local
governments as well as the private sector. Communities across the country
must develop the public-health infrastructure to deal with addicted
sub-populations. This problem cannot be resolved by the federal government
alone. Heavy lifting must be done at the local level."

In Hawaii, Governor Cayetano has demonstrated his awareness of the need for
more emphasis on treatment of the addicted and sought increased funding for
treatment programs. But the problem seems to have drawn little attention at
the Legislature.

The coming session will provide an opportunity to deal with the drug issue
in the most intelligent way -- through education and treatment. There is
also room to reform the drug laws by restricting prison sentences to the
drug traffickers.