DONNIE MARSHALL: DRUG WAR REQUIRES DUAL ATTACK

Americans once again are embroiled in a debate over how to solve the drug
epidemic that plagues our communities. Some favor a heavy emphasis on
arresting drug traffickers, while others argue for reducing drug demand.

Unfortunately, that supply vs. demand debate goes on and on while mothers
are losing children to drug overdoses, drug-related violence cripples
entire neighborhoods, and drug lords count their profits in billions of
dollars.

Any strategy that overemphasizes either supply or demand is doomed to
failure. The complex drug trade, in which the elements of both supply and
demand are seamlessly interwoven, can be solved only through a combination
of tough law enforcement and prevention with education. Neither strategy
works in isolation, and neither is the sole answer to the problem.

Critics of law enforcement ardently claim that reducing demand is the key.
But our society is full of examples where supply creates demand. Just look
at Plano. During 1996 and 1997, drug traffickers eagerly poured heroin into
that community, which had no history of serious drug use. As a result, 14
teens and young adults died tragically. We now are seeing the same cycle
repeated across the nation with methamphetamine and the drug Ecstasy in
"rave" clubs. Ruthless traffickers are aggressively marketing their poisons
with no regard for the welfare of their weak and vulnerable victims.

In fact, traffickers sometimes include free samples of heroin with cocaine
shipments to recruit users. Supply clearly is generating demand, and we
can't afford to underestimate the significance of that relationship.

The term "pusher" didn't leap into the lexicon of the drug culture
spontaneously, and the schoolyard pusher is more than just a stereotype. In
one form or another, he exists in most American communities. Kids don't
start a drug habit because of some instinctive urge to load their bodies up
with chemicals. They start because someone, a friend or a dealer, has
introduced drugs to them.

Our kids are at the end of a long chain of drug distribution that can be
traced back to drug lords in places like Mexico and Colombia. Get rid of
those drug lords, and you have a much better chance of getting rid of the
drug problem.

Compounding the situation is the manifest connection between drug use and
drug-related violence. The simple truth is that drug users commit crimes
and, all too often, violent crimes. That linkage has been documented. In
1999, the Justice Department found that 64 percent of adult male federal
prisoners across the nation tested positive for drugs at the time of their
arrest. Here in Dallas, 61 percent tested positive, and of those arrested
for violent crimes, more than half tested positive for drugs. As part of
our response, the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested more than 40,000
drug criminals last year; that is our job.

But just as we can't educate our way out of the nation's relentless drug
epidemic, we can't arrest our way out of it, either. What we need is a
balanced strategy that relies on prevention, education, law enforcement,
supply reduction and international cooperation.

That holistic approach has proved successful in the past. During the past
20 years, drug use in the United States has been reduced by half. In 1979,
about 14 percent of Americans aged 12 and older were current users, meaning
that they used drugs at least once during the previous month. By 1999, that
number had been reduced to less than 7 percent. I believe drug enforcement
made a big contribution to that decrease in drug use. This isn't the time
to abandon a proven strategy of balance. Now is the time to increase that
strategy and seize the opportunity to make further progress.

We are far from claiming victory. There is much work to be done by all of
us, parents, educators, businesses, law enforcement, the medical community,
civic leaders, clergy and concerned citizens. But I know that we can reduce
drug abuse and drug-related crime to much lower levels. To do so, we must
renew our resolve as a nation, and we must attack both the supply and
demand sides of the problem with equal vigor. We must continue our balanced
approach as each successive generation comes of age.