LAWS REFLECT ATTITUDES, NOT VICE VERSA

SUMMARY: Early peek at drug, alcohol panel's work suggests room for
improvement.

Does Montana need a "drug czar?" A state task force charged with proposing
more effective ways of dealing with crimes involving drugs and alcohol
thinks so. That's reportedly on the laundry list of recommendations the
group plans to forward to the governor next month, the Associated Press
reported last week.

But, in fact, we already have a "drug czar." Only his actual title is
"attorney general." He's the highest-ranking law enforcement officer in the
state, and he is fully empowered to coordinate drug-enforcement policy.

All 56 Montana counties also have their own drug czars. They're called
"sheriffs."

And, of course, there's no shortage of help available from the federal
government, which has a federal drug czar, who really does go by the handle
of "drug czar."

The point we're making is that there's hardly a shortage of government
officials and agencies dedicated to combating drug crimes and abuse. One
more drug czar wouldn't hurt, but this approach certainly hasn't solved
drug problems elsewhere.

We'll be more interested in the task force's suggestions for combating
drunken driving, which is of far greater concern to Montanans than drug
abuse and trafficking.

Here again, however, the task force reportedly is plodding down a
well-traveled road by calling for more laws - tougher penalties for
drinking and driving, a lower legal limit for blood alcohol level, a ban on
open containers of alcohol in cars.

A quick search of the state code books turns up nearly 100 pages of laws
governing alcohol in Montana, whole sections pertaining to drinking and
driving. More laws won't hurt. But it seems a terrible underestimation of
the problem to suggest that more laws are the answer.

Montana's drinking-and-driving problems are more cultural than legal in
nature. There's a widespread (but not universal) attitude in Montana -
perhaps it's rooted somewhere in the cowboy-lumberjack- miner-mountain man
persona - that tacitly excuses binge drinking and driving after drinking.
If Montana has fewer or weaker laws governing drunken driving than do other
states, it's probably a reflection of the culture here. It's almost
certainly not the other way around. Our cultural acceptance of drinking and
driving isn't caused by a dearth of laws.

Enacting more and tougher laws can reinforce changing social norms, but
it's those social norms, not the laws, that matter most. Montana's DUI laws
already are sufficiently strict to deter anyone who carefully considers the
consequences.

We've chronicled the day-in, day-out tragedies associated with drunken
driving in Montana enough to appreciate the task force's desire to crack
down with more laws. But we also suspect this task force will be followed
by others given the same mission - to search for truly effective measures.