Pubdate: Wed, 21 Feb 2001
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2001 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Contact:  One Norway Street, Boston, MA 02115
Fax: (617) 450-2031
Website: http://www.csmonitor.com/
Forum: http://www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/vox/p-vox.html

DRUG DEMAND - A NEW START

Some lip service was paid to reducing the demand for illegal drugs in the 
United States during last week's meeting between Presidents George Bush and 
Vicente Fox. Getting at the demand side of the narcotics equation has 
always made sense, both to advocates in the US and to countries like Mexico 
that are often blamed for the flow of drugs across American borders.

Doing something about demand has been another matter. Drug treatment and 
education, two key pillars of a demand strategy, have typically taken a 
backseat to law-enforcement crackdowns on traffickers and users.

But there's evidence antidrug priorities may be changing. A number of 
states are showing signs they're wearying of the burden drug prosecutions 
and convictions put on their penal systems. California's passage last year 
of a ballot initiative to require treatment, instead of incarceration, for 
nonviolent drug offenders was a bold step.

Other states are venturing onto similar ground, loosening mandatory 
sentences for drug use or expanding treatment options. New Mexico Gov. Gary 
Johnson is a pioneer on this front. He's proposing bills ranging from more 
money for drug rehabilitation to legalization of the "medical" use of 
marijuana.

As the latter idea suggests, there are serious unanswered questions about 
the move toward treating drug use and addiction less as a criminal matter 
and more as a public health problem. Where do you draw the line as you head 
toward any form of legalization? Will addicts stick to rehabilitation 
without the overhanging threat of jail? And how do you gear up to meet a 
huge treatment mandate like that now confronting California?

These questions don't argue against new approaches. They just underscore 
the need for care and thoughtfulness.

Things aren't static with drug education, either. For years, the heart of 
efforts to convince American kids that drugs are a very bad idea has been 
DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). Its approach, emphasizing lectures 
delivered by friendly but no-nonsense policemen, is used in 75 percent of 
US school districts. It's also widely used overseas.

But critics have increasingly shown there's little evidence of the 
program's effectiveness.

Now, with financial support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, DARE 
is attempting a remake. It is going to shift its focus from the fifth grade 
to middle and high school, when kids are more likely to experiment with 
drugs. The technique of choice will be group discussion that explores peer 
influence rather than "just say no" set pieces. These are sensible changes.

The new DARE will start as a test program in 256 schools scattered through 
a few large cities. Researchers will keep a close eye on impact.

More emphasis on treatment and more effective education still have a long 
way to go, but they hint that demand reduction could become more than a 
politically useful refrain.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens