IN THE TWILIGHT ON THE METH CRISIS

U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, R-4th District, is continuing his criticism of the
Bush administration's response or, rather, lack of it to the country's
methamphetamine crisis. The measures just announced, Souder says, are too
little, too late. "We're looking for a scream, not a peep," he says. "This
proposal, unfortunately, doesn't have anything new in it. At my last
hearing they waved a report with a list of recommendations, and this was
all in it." Souder, chairman of a subcommittee that authorizes legislation
involving drug-control efforts, has had repeated hearings criticizing the
administration for not taking strong enough measures to fight meth.

The administration pledged to make $16.2 million available over three years
for treatment grants in seven states California, Tennessee, Oregon, Texas,
Montana, Georgia and New Mexico. And it would limit sales of
pseudoephedrine but would not require that cold medicines be sold from
behind pharmacy counters. Oh, and it will come up with a paltry $1 million
for anti-meth ads on TV.

And that's pretty much it. Pathetic. Sen. Jim Talent, a Republican from
Missouri, has exactly the right take: "Their plan is inadequate. If they
are not in the dark (about meth), they are in the twilight."

He Kept Us On The Moral High Ground

If J. Roberts Dailey had done nothing else at all in his public-service
career, he would deserve recognition for holding back the beginning of a
state lottery for a decade. Roberts, whose funeral was last week, exercised
close to absolute power after he became speaker of the Indiana House in
1981. Many of the commentaries about his death have pointed out the
increasing democratization of General Assembly operations in recent years
and correctly noted that Dailey's use of power was what ultimately undid
him with voters.

But at least he didn't covet power for power's sake or to line the pockets
of his friends. He wielded it in pursuit of what he considered to be good
causes. One of them was stopping the lottery, which he considered a moral
blight. He was right.

The Smoking Snitches

If you want your college-age kids to grow up to be tattletales, send them
to Purdue University, where they will be able to get practical experience.
A new smoking policy allows people on campus a chance to snitch on smokers
who break the rules. The policy, which begins today, bans smoking in all
university facilities, including outdoor athletic facilities and theaters.
Smokers will be able to light up once they get 30 feet from university
buildings. The policy calls for "concern forms" that people can use to
anonymously report smoking violations. The forms record the exact location,
time and nature of the violation and ask for suggested solutions to the
problem.

The policy itself isn't particularly groundbreaking. It tries to sort out
the rights of smokers and non-smokers in a reasonable way. But trying to
turn the whole campus population into a bunch of low-rent Crime Stoppers is
a bit much.

They're Just Not Reaching The Boys

That much-discussed nationwide survey of high school students by Indiana
University has one particular component worthy of much further discussion.
Boys, it found, are much more alienated in school these days than girls.
More than one-third of students think their teachers do not care about
them, but, of the students who "strongly disagree" that they are supported
and respected by their teachers, 65 percent are boys. Students who feel
that way in high school aren't likely to have any better attitudes as they
get older.

Today's Briefs By Leo Morris For The Editorial Board