News (Media Awareness Project) - Losing a costly drug war |
| Title: | Losing a costly drug war |
| Published On: | 1997-06-25 |
| Source: | SF Examiner, Guest Editorial from St. Louis PostDispatch, |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-08 15:03:42 |
Losing a costly cirug war
IN THESE TIMES of bipartisan concerns about federal deficits,
Congress seems to ignore one costly program that certainly deserves
review and reform. It is the federal war on drugs. Beginning with a
budget of about $800 million during the Reagan era, the federal drug
program has taken hold like a leech, sucking at least $16 billion each
year from the federal treasury. And yet our nation is no closer to
kicking the drug habit.
A study by Drug Strategies, a nonpartisan policy group in Washington,
shows that the drug war has become a growth industry among federal
agencies. The report notes that no fewer than 50 federal departments and
agencies ranging from U.S. Customs to the State Department are
entitled to a piece of the antidrug budget.
One portion of that budget is devoted to interdiction and eradication of
drugs. Another portion covers grants to groups, ranging from public
schools to police departments. For schools, the most popular program is
DARE or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, which uses uniformed police
officers to teach antidrug classes. Nationwide, DARE costs about $200
million a year, including corporate support for salaries of DARE officers
and federal grants for five regional DARE training centers. DARE's
efforts notwithstanding, drug use continues to rise among youngsters.
Drug Strategies, Rand Corp. researchers and many others argue that the
best weapons against drugs are intensive education and treatment, the
areas getting the smallest piece of the federal drug budget.
During the early 1970s, prevention, treatment and education got nearly
twothirds of the federal drug budget. Now, twothirds of the budget is
devoted to interdiction, lawenforcement and drugcrop eradication
programs.
The findings of Drug Strategies should prompt hard questions about what
we are getting for our tax dollars, aside from annual requests for more
money. Billions have been thrown at a dubious strategy to fight what has
turned out to be the longest war in U.S. history.
Sadly, we're losing.
St. Louis PostDispatch
IN THESE TIMES of bipartisan concerns about federal deficits,
Congress seems to ignore one costly program that certainly deserves
review and reform. It is the federal war on drugs. Beginning with a
budget of about $800 million during the Reagan era, the federal drug
program has taken hold like a leech, sucking at least $16 billion each
year from the federal treasury. And yet our nation is no closer to
kicking the drug habit.
A study by Drug Strategies, a nonpartisan policy group in Washington,
shows that the drug war has become a growth industry among federal
agencies. The report notes that no fewer than 50 federal departments and
agencies ranging from U.S. Customs to the State Department are
entitled to a piece of the antidrug budget.
One portion of that budget is devoted to interdiction and eradication of
drugs. Another portion covers grants to groups, ranging from public
schools to police departments. For schools, the most popular program is
DARE or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, which uses uniformed police
officers to teach antidrug classes. Nationwide, DARE costs about $200
million a year, including corporate support for salaries of DARE officers
and federal grants for five regional DARE training centers. DARE's
efforts notwithstanding, drug use continues to rise among youngsters.
Drug Strategies, Rand Corp. researchers and many others argue that the
best weapons against drugs are intensive education and treatment, the
areas getting the smallest piece of the federal drug budget.
During the early 1970s, prevention, treatment and education got nearly
twothirds of the federal drug budget. Now, twothirds of the budget is
devoted to interdiction, lawenforcement and drugcrop eradication
programs.
The findings of Drug Strategies should prompt hard questions about what
we are getting for our tax dollars, aside from annual requests for more
money. Billions have been thrown at a dubious strategy to fight what has
turned out to be the longest war in U.S. history.
Sadly, we're losing.
St. Louis PostDispatch
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