EDITORIAL: PREVENT, TREAT DRUG ABUSE

* If you're going to put an emphasis on incarceration, you've also got to
have prison treatment for drug offenders

The most dangerous drug scene in America, hands down, is "a 12-year-old
smoking pot on weekends and drinking beer," White House drug-war czar Barry
McCaffrey says, and he intends to do something about it.

Not by himself, of course, but with the help of parents, teachers, coaches,
ministers, social workers, political leaders and, yes, police, prosecutors,
judges and jailers.

Alcohol is by far the primary drug abused, but McCaffrey also cites tobacco
in the same breath as illegal drugs.

The 1999 National Drug Control Strategy, which McCaffrey outlined in his
visit to Portland last week, stresses prevention and treatment, without
moving away from enforcement, incarceration and interdiction of drugs coming
into the country.

It's a welcome emphasis, building as it has been over the last 10 years of
reshaping national anti-drug strategy. Prevention and treatment are less
expensive -- and more effective -- than locking up users after they've
broken laws, only to see them eventually released to commit new crimes.

Numerous studies confirm that the vast majority of prisoners started using
drugs early and committed their crimes to buy drugs or while under the
influence of drugs. In Multnomah County, for example, about 70 percent of
the prisoners at any time in county jails admit drug use.

The county is building up its investment in treatment, and wisely so.
McCaffrey deplored the fact that jails and prisons provide so little
treatment for drug abuse. And just as bad, no follow-up when inmates are
released.

Both work, experience shows, if not the first time or even a second and
additional times, but eventually. "And when they work, society regains a
constructive citizen and saves money."

Oregonians can see the value of his words in their tax bills for new
prisons, new county jails and more police, prosecutors and judges.

The toughest nut, however, probably is prevention. "You can't unload all
this on the schools," McCaffrey correctly insisted. He called on families,
friends, employers and community youth leaders to step up, to talk to
youngsters about tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs and the problems they
bring to lives.

Parents often struggle to talk to their children about things they're doing
or have done, but McCaffrey advises them to recognize that they're not
talking about their own pasts, but about their children's future.

His is a call that parents and others concerned about kids and crime need to
answer, clearly defining the tragedies of drug abuse and supporting efforts
for more effective and cheaper programs -- prevention and treatment -- in
jail, and in the community.