DRUG SUMMIT

Time is right to find effective solutions

When officials of the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws scheduled
a summit in Texas last year, they didn't know how timely their meeting
would be.

The October Dallas gathering came in the midst of the tragic series of
heroin-related deaths involving Plano-area young people. The Texas summit
will convene here again today, just three days after the Plano Police
Department started rounding up suspected drug dealers.

The alliance will submit a package of anti-drug laws and policies for the
Texas Legislature to consider in 1999. Some of the legislation will be
designed to cut the profits for drug traffickers, strengthen neighborhoods'
ability to fight back and provide more effective drug education in the
schools.

Also on the agenda will be the impact of the North American Free Trade
Agreement on Texas' drug problems, prevention of substance abuse in the
workplace and more realistic ways to curb drug-related health costs in the
state.

The Alliance for Model State Drug Laws faces big challenges. But the
nonprofit organization has gone about the business of seeking effective
changes correctly.

Hundreds of people around the state participated in drafting the
legislation last year. The summit is sponsored by Attorney General Dan
Morales' office and the Greater Dallas Crime Commission, one of the state's
more effective anti-crime lobbying groups.

Texas already has taken some steps to control the flow of illicit narcotics
through the state. Drug traffickers now can face stiffer penalties if they
are repeat offenders. A zero tolerance policy toward drug use by young
people should have a positive effect.

But at least a dozen heroin overdose deaths in the Plano area in less than
two years should telegraph the Legislature that the battle is far from
over. That's why the Texas summit on model drug laws this week deserves
everyone's attention.