GIVE US THE DOPE, GOVERNOR BUSH

These days, when a politician starts decrying "the politics of
personal destruction," we had all better watch out. It's a surefire
sign he has something to hide.

That was the protest George W. Bush took up last week, borrowing a
line from Bill Clinton. And it was no more convincing when used by the
GOP front-runner than it has been in the past from the president.

The more Bush protests, the more it looks like he did use cocaine. And
the deeper he digs himself into a hole he won't get out of without a
proper answer.

Eight Republican candidates have said they never used drugs. Al Gore
and Bill Bradley have admitted to pot-smoking. Clinton confessed to
that years before, tortured as his explanation was. Even Newt Gingrich
has 'fessed up.

But Bush remains the only presidential candidate who refuses to
answer. And the questions plaguing him involve not just marijuana, but
cocaine.

So far, his answers have been awfully coy. He mentions mistakes he
made 25 years ago, and says he learned from them.

He says that discussing these matters out of "baby-boomer guilt" sends
bad signals to children.

And while explicitly denying any drug use since his father became
president in 1989, he has conspicuously left open the question of what
he did before 1974.

Personally, I think a lot that happened in the '60s and '70s can be
forgiven in the context of the times. Face it, if you grew up then and
never even thought about trying drugs, you were living on a cloud.

But drug use still is, and was, illegal, and steep penalties are being
meted out for it all the time. Anyone in a position to make drug laws
or pass judgment on people who used drugs needs to be square with the
public on where he or she is coming from.

Bush has to answer. Not so Democrats can gloat that Republicans don't
have a lock on morality, or so other Republicans can claim the higher
ground. He needs to answer to show people he doesn't operate by two
sets of standards - one for himself and one for everyone else.

An admission wouldn't have to be fatal to his candidacy. The public
knows better than most politicians how to put things into a real-world
perspective. After all, while Congress took steps to remove Clinton
from office for lying about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, the
public continued to oppose such drastic action.

But I suspect Bush has another concern beyond the fear that admitting
to such a transgression would sink his candidacy. It's the fear that
acknowledging cocaine use would force him to answer for his drug
policies, past and future. This is a good deal more ticklish than
answering for a youthful indiscretion.

America's war on drugs has taken the country in some shameful
directions in the last decade or two. Harsh mandatory drug sentences
have packed the prisons, mostly with poor people and people of color.
The relentless police pursuit of drug users has given rise to
complaints across the country of arbitrary police stops and searches
of drivers with brown skin or long hair or in the wrong type of car.
Here in Des Moines, a man spent five weeks in jail for possession of
Carpet Fresh because Windsor Heights police thought it was a drug.

Bush would have to answer for his own support of legislation in Texas
to jail people caught with less than a gram of cocaine.

He would have to explain whether, as president, he would disqualify
appointees, including Supreme Court candidates, for past drug use. In
other words, he would have to abide by a single standard for everyone.

You can see why this would put him in a bit of a pickle. As a nation,
we're still awfully hypocritical on the subject of drugs. If Bush says
a little drug experimentation at age 28 was no big deal, then he may
be forced to admit that it's also no big deal for other people. If he
asks the public to forgive him his mistake, then he must be prepared
to forgive others their mistakes.

Recently, I went for a visit to the Mitchellville women's prison,
always a sobering lesson in the consequences of making mistakes. And
as it happens, the majority of inmates are there for drug-related
offenses. Even if the actual crimes they were busted on didn't involve
drugs, they were committed to feed a drug habit, explained acting
warden Greg Ort. That's supported by the fact that a full 73 percent
of those admitted this year have been referred for substance-abuse
treatment.

Some of these women have children who will be fully grown by the time
their mothers get out. And even after their releases, they will
forever be branded convicted felons.

George W. Bush has hinted at lessons he learned from mistakes he made
more than 20 years ago. It's only fitting that he share them,
particularly how they might guide him in office. I know some people at
Mitchellville who would especially like to hear.