NEW ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN DOWNPLAYS RESPONSIBILITY

President Reagan's "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign assumed personal
responsibility at a time when responsibility was going the way of the
dinosaurs.

President Bush's new "Please Get Help" campaign is a capitulation to the
politically correct view that no one is responsible for anything since we
are all victims of forces beyond ourselves that only professionals can deal
with effectively.

Bush's political compassion is getting in the way of his common sense.
Apparently, he is listening to politicians who have no answers except to
defer to addiction professionals who recognize no problems that money won't
cure.

We do not have 3.9 million drug users in America who want to quit, but did
not receive help. The truth is that most people who really want to get off
drugs (including alcohol) can already find a way to get help without vast
new infusions of tax dollars.

Further, most addicts who do not want to quit are not going to quit, no
matter how much more money is dumped into the treatment industry.

I'm afraid that compassion in this case is not only ineffective, but
counterproductive, especially if treatment replaces punishment for breaking
the law and compassion gets in the way of tough love.

ZIP RIBAR,
Long Beach