BUSH DRUG POLICY AN ENCOURAGING SHIFT

Conceding that tough punishment alone isn't the answer, the president's new
drug policy is an encouraging step in the right direction.

Even enforcement hard-liners like White House drug policy director John
Walters seem to recognize that lessening the demand for drugs and early
treatment are less costly than inflexible, long-term incarceration. Yet the
plan still shortchanges drug treatment and research funding; dollars spent
on enforcing drug laws exceed those for treatment, 7 to 1.

The $19 billion program accurately recognizes that the war on drugs boils
down to basic supply and demand by allocating $2 billion for stepped-up
drug interdiction. Fighting drugs becomes an integral part of the
administration's war on terrorism.

But much of the battle will be fought on the home front, where crime and
addiction are inextricably linked. Among the most effective weapons are
alternative drug court programs that reduce recidivism and save money.

An example is North Carolina's statewide drug-treatment court, soon to open
in Guilford County. As many as 40 nonviolent first-time drug users here
will avoid prison by enrolling in a closely monitored treatment program
that includes daily drug screening. Although nearly 70 percent succeed,
backsliders are sent to a criminal court. It's a win-win situation because
the state spends only $2,500 on each enrollee compared with $20,000 for a
year in prison.

The challenge is greater among repeat criminals. Lengthy mandatory
sentences for drug offenders have lowered crime rates, but getting tough
costs. And taxpayers are less willing to pay the escalating expenses of new
prisons to house drug abusers with little chance of parole.

There are choices. In Greensboro, the nonprofit Delancey House provides an
alternative rehabilitation program. It offers a job, the first step to
surviving outside prison walls, along with counseling and treatment. And it
works. Nationally, Delancey House has turned more than 10,000 ex-convicts
and addicts into productive citizens.

It follows that if treatment programs and lengthy prison terms cut demand,
the next target is supply. Here, the president's plan rightly fingers the
Colombian drug cartels and the poppy fields of Afghanistan. Also budgeted
is more money for U.S. Coast Guard coastline patrols and closely monitored
CIA surveillance flights.The Bush family's own brushes with alcohol and
drug abuse show that none of us is exempt and may have heightened the
administration's awareness.

It is a reassuring first step to know that the nation's drug plan has
matured from "Just Say No" to "Please, Get Help."