Failed Drug Czars Urge Future Czar To Make Things Worse PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 203 Thursday, March 22, 2001 Well it seems that former Drug Czars may have been failures in their job at solving America's drug policy problems, but they still have plenty of advice for the new Czar, a position yet to be filled by new President G.W. Bush. In this week's Miami Herald, former Czar William Bennett and an earlier predecessor, Robert DuPont (White House Drug Chief under Nixon and Ford) get loose with their ADVICE FOR THE NEXT DRUG CZAR. Their eight point analysis is a regurgitation of basic Drug War myths, most notably two slams against the 'legalizers' who teach us that the War on Drugs is lost, and that we should not believe that. Interestingly, the Herald also ran a somewhat opposing viewpoint titled OUR LONG LOST WAR ON DRUGS, see http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n491.a02.html which focused on the overall public reaction and response to the movie 'Traffic'. PLEASE write a letter today to the Miami Herald to not only dispute the Czars' article, but also possibly to commend them for printing two points of view. If you wish to focus on refuting the Czars, may we suggest that you include a PS with a thanks for balanced editing? It's not what others do, it's what YOU do. You can make a difference. PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is a very important method of gauging our impact and effectiveness. Contact Info Source: Miami Herald (FL) Contact: Address: One Herald Plaza, Miami FL 33132-1693 ARTICLE URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n491.a08.html Newshawk: Ginger Pubdate: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2001 The Miami Herald Contact: Address: One Herald Plaza, Miami FL 33132-1693 Fax: (305) 376-8950 Website: http://www.herald.com/ Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?mherald Author: William J. Bennett, and Robert L. Dupont Note: William J. Bennett, co-chair of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, served as the 1989-1990 director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Robert L. DuPont, president of the Institute for Behavior and Health, was the White House drug chief under Presidents Nixon and Ford and the first director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 1973-1978. ADVICE FOR THE NEXT DRUG CZAR Gov. Jeb Bush recently held a summit on drug policy in Tallahassee. He reiterated the ambitious plan announced in 1999: to reduce the use of illegal drugs in Florida by 50 percent over five years. We hope that President Bush will follow his brother's example and fight aggressively to reduce drug use. As former heads of the nation's fight against illegal drugs, we offer him this advice: * Prevention is the best medicine. The drug czar's most important job is to promote a clear message: Drug use is dangerous. The intellectual elites laughed at Nancy Reagan's motto, ``Just Say No.'' Children did not, for it was simple and effective. * Support parents' groups. During the 1980s, when drug use among children plummeted (decreasing 63 percent among high school seniors); they were the leaders in the anti-drug movement. Bush already has taken steps toward this goal in announcing his intention to fund the training of a nationwide Parents Drug Corps. * Prepare for new drug threats. While the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1990s has passed, methamphetamine and Ecstasy are growing in popularity, especially among the young. In 1999 more than a million Americans used meth, more than used crack and almost three times as many as used heroin. Meth is devastating and provides a high that lasts six times as long as that of crack or cocaine. These new synthetic drugs are cheap and far too easy to obtain; many of them are manufactured in the United States. * Supply reduction is demand reduction. When drugs are more plentiful, cheaper and purer, more people become addicted. Increased drug supply leads to higher levels of drug demand and to greater amounts of social harm. We need to be firm in pursuing, arresting and punishing those who sell and traffic in illegal drugs. * Develop a plan for interdiction. Simply spending more money to intercept drugs overseas and crossing our borders is insufficient. We need a well-developed supply-reduction strategy that takes into account political, military and geographic factors. * Law enforcement and treatment work together. Those who want to move the war on drugs from the criminal to the medical arena neglect the fact that laws against drug use promote effective treatment. Successful treatment is a function of the longevity of treatment, and, for most addicts, the longevity of treatment is a function of coercion, being forced into treatment - by a loved one, an employer or by the law. * Fight legalization. More threatening than the efforts to medicalize drugs are the efforts to legalize drugs. These efforts - often well funded - argue that the costs of waging a war on drugs outweigh the benefits. The advocates of drug legalization ignore the human costs of overdose deaths, drug- addicted newborns, broken homes and broken hearts. * Speak the truth about the war on drugs. We need to counter a pernicious myth cited by drug-legalization supporters: that we have lost the war on drugs. That is not so. The number of Americans currently using illegal drugs peaked in 1979, when 25.4 million people used drugs monthly or more often. By 1992 that number was down to 12 million - an achievement that is even more impressive, considering that the population increased by 25 million over the same 13-year period. In Florida, the rate of youth drug use is the third-lowest in the nation. With the right combination of efforts on the legal, international, medical and moral fronts, we - in Florida and in America - can reduce drug use even more. SAMPLE LETTER To the editors: The two opposing viewpoints expressed in Tuesday's Herald were very interesting as readers were able to compare the counsel and viewpoints of former Drug Czars Bennett and DuPont against the reality of America's drug policy efforts in the year 2001. Dupont was one of the initiators of Nixon's War on Drugs while Bennett, who carried the torch for former President Bush now continues to preach his flawed message via his association with the PDFA. Most notable in the contrast was the former Czars' stern recommendation that the incoming Czar not be 'fooled by the legalizers who say the War on Drugs is lost'. While meanwhile, via the opposing column and it's references to the movie "Traffic", we are presented with the stark and real evidence that the policies of the past 30 years are wreaking untold havoc on our populace, their families and overall civil liberties. The new Czar should take to heart the movie's most poignant message and know that 'a War on Drugs is a war against our own friends and families', as so eloquently stated by the fictional Drug Czar portrayed by Michael Douglas. It is simply not possible to coerce our fellow free citizens into healthy lifestyles via the gun, the badge or the prison cell. Rather we will only solve America's very real problems with drug abuse when we transfer this war from the military and law enforcement arena back to the public health arena it properly belongs in. Sincerely, Steve Heath contact info IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. TARGET ANALYSIS Miami Herald Circulation 433,000 Subscribers Is the Herald Biased? It appears that this newspaper may have a bias against letters which question the War on Drugs as there are many similar sized newspapers in the U.S. from which we have dozens, if not hundreds of published letters in the MAP published letter archives. For the Miami Herald there are only eleven! Thus showing reader interest by sending this newspaper letters is very important. The Herald tends to publish shorter LTEs, ranging from 64 to 225 words for the body of the LTE, with an average of 148 words. You may review the 11 letters published by the Herald in the MAP published letter archives by clicking this link http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=Miami+Herald ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts 3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm Prepared by Steve Heath and Stephen Young - http://www.maximizingharm.com Focus Alert Specialist

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