THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270013
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Another View
SOURCE: By KAY COLES JAMES
LENGTH: 78 lines
Results of the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse released last week by the Clinton administration should mortify every parent in America and serve as a wake-up call to every government official involved in the ``war on drugs.''
For more than a decade, the National Household Survey, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has been one of our best barometers of illegal drug use. The 1995 findings indicated a 166 percent increase in cocaine use from 1994 to 1995; a 141 percent increase in marijuana use from 1992 to 1995; and a 183 percent increase in monthly use of LSD from 1992 to 1995. The most significant increases in virtually every category occurred among teenagers.
The federal government has been involved in fighting the importation and trafficking of illegal drugs for nearly 30 years. But it was not until the Reagan and Bush administrations that this issue became a national priority and the federal role was dramatically expanded to address illicit drug use. President Bush promised that this ``scourge will stop'' and demonstrated that government could encourage and constantly remind the media, legislators, state and local officials and parents about the dangers of illegal drugs. In particular, drug use by teenagers must be discouraged by example, education and, when necessary, punishment. Now Clinton wants us to believe that it is merely a coincidence that illegal drug use has soared during his administration.
Seven years ago, Bill Bennett spoke about America's new ``invisible man'' when he discussed the thousands of inner-city residents who were not involved in drugs and who were fighting drugs in their families and communities. Today the ``invisible man'' in America's war on drugs is the president of the U.S. himself. Unfortunately for our nation, the Clinton administration has adopted a zero tolerance on common-sense approaches to fighting drug use.
Consider some of the battles of Bill Clinton's war on drugs: The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy was recklessly gutted and a general appointed without any army or authority to command. The shameful surrender of legalization was discussed by the nation's top public-health official, Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders. Astonishing reports have emerged of Clinton White House employees who were high on Inauguration Day and even more who tested positive to recent drug use by the Secret Service.
Illicit drug use is a moral crisis which threatens us all: rich and poor, black and white, urban and suburban. And that means that those ultimately responsible for beating it will be individuals and parents. But government has a role to play, from interdicting drugs at our borders to encouraging children to ``just say no.'' You cannot have it both ways: If the liberal elite believe it takes a village to raise a child, then the leaders of that village must set an example.
We must abandon the 1960s culture of permissiveness and return to policies that support parents' efforts to prevent drug use by their children. We must hold countries that do not assist us in preventing their illicit crops from being exported to our shores accountable by sanctioning them. We must support interdiction and user-accountability efforts by law-enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local levels not only by our rhetoric but by our actions. We must be committed to research in prevention and treatment modalities and recommit ourselves to helping those who can benefit from treatment find it. And we must challenge the entertainment industry to accurately depict the harsh reality of drug use and addiction.
Working together, the partnership of individuals, government and the private sector can win this war.
The Clinton administration has said that this should not be a partisan issue. I could not agree more. But wars require commanders with courage who lead by example. So let's begin with government officials acknowledging that drug use is dangerous and wrong. End of discussion. No excuses. Any mother can tell you that ``everyone else was doing it'' has never been a valid excuse for inappropriate behavior. As Andrew Jackson was fond of saying, ``One man with courage is a majority.'' Imagine if it starts with the president of the United States. MEMO: Kay Coles James, dean of the School of Government at Regent
University in Virginia Beach, previously served as Virginia's secretary
of Health and Human Resources, associate director of the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy and assistant secretary of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. by CNB