WHERE ARE WINS IN OUR NATIONAL BATTLE TO KEEP KIDS OFF DRUGS?

Are we winning the War on Drugs?

I've been thinking about this lately, starting with George W. Bush. Lets
suppose, though he hasn't officially admitted it, that Bush, the
front-runner for the Republican nomination, has used cocaine as many have
speculated (and he won't deny.) That means that somehow the message to just
say no didn't get through in a family whose values are publicly on display,
whose material needs were more than met, whose opposition to drugs has been
voiced openly and often. If the Bushes couldn't do it, what makes us think
we can convince our kids not to?

I have been reading critical studies of the DARE program. Some of them say
it not only doesn't work, it increases the possibility of experimentation
by making drugs dangerously alluring. (To be fair, other studies say
differently. But they have been mostly done by DARE supporters.) Some
detractors raise what I find to be esoteric points, such as whether cops
should be teaching courses any more than teachers should be arresting
muggers. But, in general, the criticism centers on whether DARE
oversimplifies the drug problem and wastes resources that could be spent on
identifying and helping at-risk kids. I find that argument fairly compelling.

And Ive been listening to New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson - a Republican, mind
you - who says legalization would virtually end the crime that has become
part and parcel of illegal drug trafficking, would reduce the exorbitant
cost of tracking down drug users and putting them in prison, and would let
us redirect our tax money toward more pressing needs. Besides, he says,
we're losing the war anyway.

When you have questions about drugs and crime, its good to go to an expert
- - and I did: Huntsville Police Chief Compton Owens.

Owens won me over initially by his response to my first question: Are we
winning the war on drugs?

"Its not a war," he said. "We don't make war on our own folks."

Owens agrees that if we continue to focus most of our anti-drug efforts on
enforcement that "were booking a loser. We can't keep up. I can't hire
enough officers to stop it." And, he said, "throwing everybody in jail
isn't the answer, either."

But that doesn't mean Owens is throwing in the towel on reducing drug use
and the crime and destruction of human lives he says goes with it. Rather,
he thinks we need to do more on the front end, before kids make drugs an
integral, then all-consuming, part of their lives.

Thats going to involve communities, churches, families and, yes, programs
that educate everyone about the consequences of drug use, he said.

But Owens acknowledges the problem is more complex than most people
realize. While overall drug use in the nation appears to be down a little -
and how can anyone know for sure? - more young people are experimenting
with drugs despite the efforts to deter them. Why? Owens isnt sure; thats
part of the complexity.

However, legalization of drugs doesn't appeal to the police chief. "If you
make assault not a crime," he asked, "are you going to have more or fewer
assaults?" More kids would try legal drugs, he said, making things worse.

Compton Owens knows a lot more about crime and crime prevention than I do,
but I'm wrestling with that last part. After a half-century of viewing
human nature, I'm convinced some people will do things and some people
won't - and its a small percentage of folks who stand on the dividing line
and could go either way. I don't think we can preach our way out of this
problem.

And I have sympathy with the argument that we've filled our prisons with
people who don't need to be there and are costing us a bundle. I have
sympathy with the the argument that millions that finance gang activity
would dry up if drugs were legal; prohibition taught us that lesson.

What I don't have is a better answer than Owens - or anyone else - on
exactly what to do.

What I do have is a strong feeling that Owens is right, our current policy
is "booking a loser."

And what I see when it comes to the War on Drugs are precious few victories.