BUSH CHANGES COURSE IN DRUG WAR

In announcing his plan to cut illegal drug use in the United States
by 25 percent over the next five years, President Bush may have
finally given us a glimpse of "compassionate conservatism" in action.

As we continue our global fight to rid the world of terror, Bush
signaled that a new approach is needed to win a war we have been
losing at home for many years. Bush's plan calls for increasing
spending on anti-drug efforts by $357 million next year, with about
two thirds of that - $224 million - going toward drug treatment.

Putting more funding into treatment along with law enforcement is
clearly compassionate, but can it be considered conservative?
Absolutely.

Conservatives have for years rightly railed against politicians'
belief that any problem can be solved with more money, and to this
point our war on drugs has been a perfect example. By concentrating
more money on the end result of cutting demand now rather than simply
stifling supply, however, this new approach should, in the long run,
produce better results and eventually allow us to spend less on this
effort.

As in any conflict, we will be judged, at least in part, on how we
take care of its victims. When Bush ordered our troops to take out
the Taliban in Afghanistan, we didn't just leave a decimated country
with no hope for the future. They are still there helping to rebuild
the decimated nation.

Bush's approach to fighting drugs features a similar accent on
enforcement, including more money for eradication efforts in South
America and to fund Coast Guard and border patrol efforts. This move
to stop drugs will never succeed, however, without taking on the
culture that has allowed drug dealers to prosper on our own soil.

"Compassionate coercion," as Bush has labeled his plan, seeks to
enlist family members, friends and employers to help police and
religious groups to tackle the problem of addiction, along with
increasing funding for community and school education efforts.

Bush should be lauded for changing our course from a war headed for
almost certain defeat to one in which victory is still elusive but
slowly taking shape.

- -Keith Demko/For the editorial board