TIME TO REFORM DEA

The Office of Management and Budget's report about the Drug Enforcement
Administration's drug war performance confirms long-held suspicions. The
report said the DEA isn't doing its job. That may not qualify as news.

Also, the administration's budget for the agency remains pretty much the
same, at $1.56 billion. That reflects less than a 1 percent increase and in
part mirrors the Bush Administration's lack of confidence in the DEA.

The OMB report states that the agency "is unable to demonstrate progress in
reducing the availability of illegal drugs in the United States." Americans
at every economic level are still adversely affected by the easy
availability of illegal drugs that are steadily more pure. Last year
President Bush recognized that illegal drug use is still widespread among
the nation's youth and that the war on drugs of late has "lost ground."

While other programs' performance reviewed by the OMB also fell into the
category of "results not demonstrated," its report on the DEA was especially
tough, so much so that it even stunned police agencies.

The DEA did have some successes in making illegal drug seizures and reducing
the purity of street drugs. Yet the agency also maintains that it needs to
better define what its agents do. That certainly is an understatement.

Meanwhile, the DEA's budget matter reflects a real turn of events since
1995. The agency's budget had more than doubled since then because
congressional conservatives held former director Asa Hutchinson in high
esteem. Now the gravy train is slowing way down.

It must be acknowledged that the nominal budget increase is also a
reflection of the fact that the agency is another victim of terrorism
against the United States, thanks to the creation of the Homeland Security
Department. In fact, that's where Mr. Hutchinson is now.

Even so, the administration's decision to budget such a small increase for
DEA suggests it has little confidence in the agency's performance in the war
against drugs. The OMB's report should provide the impetus to reform the
DEA. It's time for the "free ride," as the head of the Drug Policy Alliance
said, to come to a grinding halt and for someone to be held accountable for
the country's ongoing illegal drug problems.