NEW ADS HINT AT CHANGE IN WAR ON DRUGS

Have you seen the new anti-drug ads from the White House Office of
National Drug

Control Policy that have been running in newspapers across the
country?

Two similar 30-second television spots aired during the Super Bowl
this month.

One newspaper ad shows the tightly cropped face of a young man who's
staring at you and saying, "Yesterday afternoon, I did my laundry, went
for a run and helped torture someone's dad."

Farther down on the page are the words: "Drug money helps support
terror. Buy drugs and you could be supporting it too."

This new approach linking the illegal drug trade with terrorism is a
$10 million government-sponsored campaign to package and market
the war on drugs in a new way.

Like the "Just Say No" campaign of the 1980s and the "This Is Your
Brain on Drugs" campaign in the 1990s, this one is aimed at teens
and their parents.

But unlike those campaigns, this one appeals less to our notions of
how drugs harm the individual user than how they harm the country as a
whole by helping bankroll narco-criminals and terrorists worldwide. As part
of the campaign, teaching materials are being sent to schools across the
country.

The ads exude patriotism and social responsibility.

U.S. drug czar John Walters told me that the campaign has resonated so
much with teens and their parents that what was originally a six-week
campaign has been extended through mid-April.

The campaign is clever and compelling, and while it has its problems,
I think it would be more effective if it was broadened to highlight the
parallels between the war on drugs and the war on terrorism.

The similarities lie in the battle. And by connecting the two, the
anti-drug campaign could take advantage of what we know to be true
about fighting the war on terrorism:

It has to be fought vigorously on many fronts. It demands money,
patience and commitment. And the battle must be a sustained effort.

The same has always rung true for the war on drugs.

But for years the fronts that we've dealt with most have been law
enforcement--drug offenders make up 60 percent of federal prisoners and
26 percent of Illinois' prisoners -- and reducing supply rather than reducing
demand.

Melody Heaps, president of Treatment Alternatives for Safe
Communities, said misguided sentencing practices have sent thousands of
non-violent drug abusers to jails and prisons when they would have been
better placed in community-based drug treatment programs.

"We've had a policy of get tough on drugs and we're seeing that didn't
work," said

Heaps, whose organization helps provide treatment for non-violent drug
offenders. "It's not only a law-enforcement issue, but a public health issue as
well."

There are signs that things are changing.

In outlining his drug control policy last week, President Bush called
for cutting the demand for drugs by a quarter over the next five years.

The Bush budget, sent to Congress earlier this month, seeks $19.2
billion for fighting illegal drugs next year, an increase of about 2 percent
over current spending, and would allocate $3.8 billion for drug treatment,
increasing that funding more than 6 percent over the current fiscal year.

The increases, particularly for drug treatment, are fantastic.

But we know it takes more than money. We've thrown billions at the war
on drugs along with massive manpower for years and have made little
headway.

Families and entire communities continue to be devastated by illegal
drugs.

Certainly, a person hitting the crack pipe, shooting heroin or
popping methamphetamines probably won't be all that concerned about how
he or she is helping underwrite terrorists, whether in Colombia or Afghanistan.

Critics say the campaign has other shortcomings--it plays the terror
card and unduly blames America's youth for terrorism.

But if this campaign, in appealing to one's patriotism, prevents even
a handful of youngsters from going down the road to addiction, then
it's a definite plus.