THE DRUG USE ISSUE

What should candidates do when asked about alleged past drug use? Simple:
Tell the truth. Lincoln Chafee's forthright admission that he used cocaine
and marijuana while a college student is the most effective way to put the
issue to rest. But to dodge and feint, as Texas Gov. George W. Bush has
done, calls into question the dodger's veracity about other things and
ensures continuous embarrassing questions about a whole slew of personal
matters -- many of which are none of the news media's business.

Should the media and other candidates make an issue of youthful drug use?
Sometimes. It depends on how that use relates to other aspects of a
candidate's career and character. Above all, we must look at how it has, or
has not, affected his or her subsequent actions and judgment.

That a Baby Boomer may have used drugs in the '60s or '70s is not stunning.
If this were to be grounds for being banned from running for public office,
the Republic would have quite a shortage of candidates now. Drug use
(though ``experimentation'' seems the official euphemism for ``use'') was
especially common among late adolescents and young adults from the late
'60s through the late '70s. Those people are running the country now. So be
it.

At the same time, the issue should energize a debate about the drug laws --
such as over why we send many (mostly poor) people to jail for long periods
for doing what some national figures (often from privileged backgrounds)
confess they did with apparent impunity and with no harm to society. The
drug laws should accord more fairly and realistically with legal fairness,
human nature, medical necessity and societal needs