BUSH SHOULD MAKE EXAMPLE OF HIMSELF TO HELP DRUG USERS

DAVID Lewis readily tells people that a drug conviction kept him locked in
San Quentin for 17 years. His honesty could help people free themselves of
drugs.

He says Texas Gov. George W. Bush could be equally open about cocaine use.
That could soften the stigma that sends certain people to jail and keeps
others in the closet, too embarrassed to seek treatment.

Lewis' advice came tumbling out recently while he and Priya Haji,
co-founders of Free at Last drug rehabilitation center in East Palo Alto,
were being interviewed on another topic.

It seemed like a good issue to pursue this week with professionals who work
with addiction.

"I don't know what Mr. Bush went through," said Lewis, ``but some way he
found a way not to use (cocaine)."

"What better advocate for treatment to fight this war on drugs than the
president of the U.S. -- if it came to that -- being able to say, `Yes, and
this is how you do it.' "

By distancing himself and avoiding questions at first about his alleged
cocaine use, Bush strengthens the stigma against those who might emerge
from the shadows of drug use and seek help.

Lewis, who had a prior arrest, was indicted by a grand jury for selling $20
worth of heroin to an undercover narcotics agent.

"I received 10 years to the rest of my life in the California Department of
Corrections," he said.

BUSH'S alleged use in the 1970s came in a climate of cultural acceptance of
drug use.

Joseph A. Califano Jr., president of the National Center of Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University, wrote in a recent column for the
Washington Post that by 1982, 22 million Americans had tried cocaine.
Overall, 60 million in the early 1980s had tried illegal drugs, and 50
million of those had smoked marijuana.

The fact that the public has shown in polls that people are not traumatized
by Bush's alleged actions is instructive.

As Califano noted, Americans, who made up only 5 percent of the world in
the '80s, were using 50 percent of its cocaine. Little has changed today.

"The reality is that if Bush is one of the people who has used (cocaine),
he is probably not that different, which is why the public appears to be
relatively forgiving of the fact that he once experimented," said Haji.

Linda Carlson, executive director of the Women's Recovery Association in
Burlingame, says whether drugs are used one time or habitually is a health
issue, not a moral issue.

"If I were Bush's advisers, I would suggest to him that rather than closet
it, hide it and avoid it, instead say, `This happens in many people's
lives. Some people experiment, some people do it one time, and sometimes it
becomes a problem. But people can recover and lead productive lives and
move on.' "

But experimentation and addiction are treated very differently according to
social class, said Haji.

AND this question remains for her: If Bush is indeed saying, yes, he tried
the drug and that should not be a big deal during his political run, "Is he
planning to implement public policies that treat other people the way he is
asking people to treat him?"

Lewis' own life is a painful example of people being treated very
differently, Haji said.

In the war against drugs, the glaring difference in the treatment of the
poor and minorities is a battle that needs all the soldiers it can get.

Addicts need treatment options, not penalties, Lewis said.

"If we are looking for a solution for the drug situation in our
communities, what better effort could we make than having someone at the
level of Bush come out of the closet and say, `I've been through this, I
understand it, I have empathy.' Then he should show the drug prevention and
recovery effort the money.