Pubdate: Thu, 13 Jul 2000
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2000 The Washington Post Company
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Author: Joseph A. Califano Jr.
Note: The writer is president of the National Center on Addiction and 
Substance Abuse at Columbia University. He was secretary of health, 
education and welfare from 1977 to 1979.

COPPING OUT ON KIDS

Scratch a presidential candidate and he will tell you that he wants to 
improve education, reduce crime, violence and teen pregnancy, hold down 
health care costs, improve the health of Americans, save Social Security 
and Medicare and, whether pro-life or pro-choice, make abortion as rare as 
possible. These objectives could be the refrain of a duet sung by George W. 
Bush and Al Gore. The candidates also echo each other in insisting that the 
nation's future depends on motivating and nourishing our children with the 
best education and health care money can buy.

But so far, both major party candidates ignore the most vexing, serious and 
common threat to converting their rhetoric into reality: drug, alcohol and 
tobacco abuse and addiction.

All the government's computers and all the government's teachers will not 
put the public school systems back together again when most middle and high 
school students say that drugs are used, kept and sold at their schools and 
when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remind us that over the 
past decade the number of kids using marijuana and cocaine increased 
markedly. How do the candidates propose to give American children drug-free 
schools to attend?

Crime is down in America in no small measure because we've put 2 million 
people behind bars--a higher proportion of our adult population than in any 
other nation. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at 
Columbia University (CASA) found that 80 percent of these inmates either 
violated drug and alcohol laws, stole money to buy drugs, were high at the 
time of their offense or are alcohol and drug abusers and addicts--and only 
a handful receive any substance-abuse treatment in prison. Without such 
treatment and training for jobs that promise self-sufficiency, these 
inmates return, upon release, to the alcohol and drug abuse that landed 
them in prison. Can't one candidate muster the courage to propose drug and 
alcohol treatment and job training for all inmates who need it?

The presidential aspirants concoct schemes and propose lockboxes to shore 
up Medicare. But a quarter of Medicare spending goes to treat cancer, 
cardiovascular disease, respiratory ailments such as emphysema and chronic 
bronchitis, cirrhosis and digestive problems caused or exacerbated by 
smoking and alcohol abuse. Can the candidates shake loose from their 
addiction to alcohol and tobacco money in order to deal with smoking and 
alcohol abuse?

Bush and Gore spar over private investments and other ideas to strengthen 
Social Security. Neither has even mentioned that cigarette-related diseases 
are responsible for more than $7 billion a year in Social Security 
disability payments, much less suggested some way to call the nicotine 
pushers to account for their fair share of that cost.

The candidates deplore teen pregnancy and the explosion in sexually 
transmitted diseases. CASA's research reveals that teens who drink and use 
drugs are far likelier to have sex--and have it more frequently and with 
four or more partners. Most teens who get pregnant are high on beer, 
marijuana or some other drug. Can we hear something from the candidates 
about cracking down on advertising that appeals to kids and toughening laws 
prohibiting sales to minors? After all, reducing teenage pregnancy is a 
giant step to one of their shared objectives--making abortion as rare as 
possible.

Gun control is the fashionable way to save lives this year. Last year, some 
30,000 Americans were killed by guns. In that same period, tobacco killed 
435,000 Americans, alcohol abuse 100,000, and drugs 20,000. And in many 
gun-related deaths, the shooter, the victim or both were under the 
influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the tragedy.

Nowhere is the candidate cop-out more troubling than with respect to 
children. Both candidates are rhetorically and pictorially devoted to 
children. The substance abuse problem is first and foremost about children. 
A child who gets through age 21 without smoking, using illegal drugs or 
drinking alcohol is almost certain never to do so. The next president will 
have significant responsibility to reduce availability of these substances 
to our children; make investments in research, prevention and treatment; 
use the financial leverage of the federal government to mobilize the 
nation's education, health care and criminal justice systems; and take to 
the bully pulpit. Isn't it time for the Republican governor and Democratic 
vice president to give as much attention to their ideas to keep our kids 
drug free as they do to setting up photo-ops with tots and teens?

The writer is president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance 
Abuse at Columbia University. He was secretary of health, education and 
welfare from 1977 to 1979.
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