Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- April 30, 1998
TOP POLITICAL STORY
House GOP forms drug war task force
By Jennifer Maddox
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
U
pset with what they say has been five years of absent leadership on the drug issue, House Republicans will announce today a task force designed to "recommit" the nation to the war on drugs.
"We have the will to make it happen," said Rep. Dennis Hastert, the Illinois Republican whom House Speaker Newt Gingrich has asked to chair the task force.
Mr. Gingrich and his 32-member panel will kick off their effort in a "war on drugs deployment ceremony" on the Capitol steps this afternoon. With school groups, grass-roots organizations and anti-drug coalitions assembled, they will announce 14 bills aimed at reducing drug supplies abroad and demand for drugs in the United States. Each bill will target a specific area, from schools to highways to public housing.
"We have the extraordinary heavy weight of an engaged leadership that is prepared to completely focus on this in the House," said Rep. Porter J. Goss, Florida Republican, a task force member who chairs the House Intelligence Committee. "The Clinton administration is not going to do it. We're going to do it."
Administrations have been trying to combat drug abuse since 1963, often with urgent rhetoric. Despite such efforts over 35 years, critics suggest the government has failed to fulfill its directives.
"Up until now ... the leaders of the federal government have been unable to face the facts in regard to drugs," said Arnold Trebach, a professor at American University who has studied domestic and foreign drug policies. "The science goes one way, and the policy goes the other way."
Several studies show that drug treatment, not longer prison terms, is the most cost-effective way to reduce drug use and drug-related crime. But treatment makes for "soft" public policy.
"There's been no ability to step back and say, 'This didn't work,'" said Jonathan Caulkins, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School of Public Policy. "It's very hard for legislators in general to step back from tough incarceration politics."
Mr. Trebach said he's found that the level of drug use in America isn't tied to government policies.
"Drug use rises and falls totally independently from government intervention," he said. "Its triggers are sudden, stylistic decisions by millions of individuals. It comes and goes like the hula hoop."
Drugs are back in fashion with children. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, fewer teens perceive drugs such as marijuana, crack and cocaine as harmful, and more children are using drugs at younger ages.
"Since serious measures of the drug problem began in the late '70s, a lot of these indicators have never been worse," said John Walters, former deputy director of the office. "The acceleration of use [among youth] has never been more rapid."
Also troubling to some is the growing movement to legalize certain drugs such as marijuana for medical purposes, adding to the perception that such drugs are acceptable.
"There's never been quite as well-funded and quite as powerful a push for legalization," Mr. Walters said. "Use, supply and public attitudes are quite heavily moving in the wrong direction."
To that extent, Congress and the president can play a symbolic, if not legislative, role, by raising awareness, Mr. Caulkins said.
"The bully pulpit can play a role," he said. "Role models who shape our children's views are more likely to send the message that drugs are bad if they're quite aware of the problem."Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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