A March 12 commentary in the Washington Post states that President Bush is in a position to lead a growing revolution in the nation's policy on addiction.Joseph A. Califano Jr., president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University and former special assistant for domestic affairs for President Lyndon B. Johnson, wrote that, "For the first time in the nation's many wars on drugs, the forces are there to balance and strengthen all four legs of the effort against abuse and addiction: research, prevention, treatment and law enforcement."
Califano noted that during Bush's recent trip to Mexico, he acknowledged that the U.S. needed to reduce its demand for drugs. During the same week, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would provide an additional $900 million for research, prevention, treatment and law enforcement to toughen criminal laws to protect children.
With regards to research, California said, "the scientific stars are also aligned for revolution." He cited several scientific discoveries that "point to more effective ways to battle substance abuse and addiction."
According to Califano, "First, we must stop ricocheting from nicotine to alcohol to marijuana to LSD to heroin to cocaine to crack to amphetamines to ecstasy. In prevention, the prime targets are children and all substances. Prevention, education and media campaigns should target alcohol and tobacco as aggressively as illegal drugs."
In terms of treatment, Califano stated, "It's time to take advantage of captive audiences where so much drug and alcohol addiction is concentrated: prison inmates and individuals receiving benefits from Medicaid, welfare, child welfare, and other public-assistance programs."
Alcohol and tobacco need to become a bigger part of the nation's anti-drug strategy, Califano added, especially where young people are concerned. For teens, illegal drugs are the tip of the iceberg and at the end of the substance abuse journey," he wrote. "Alcohol is implicated in far more teen violence, suicide and deadly accidents than all illegal drugs. Teens learn how to inhale on nicotine cigarettes before smoking pot. Laws prohibiting sale of alcohol and cigarettes to minors should be toughened. Their reach should be extended to cover adults who purchase beer and cigarettes for minors and tobacco and beer companies that distribute their products to outlets that sell to minors."
Califano said that Bush's statements on demand reduction, treatment and protecting children "are as refreshing as Lyndon Johnson's words on alcohol in his 1967 Message on Crime in America. There, LBJ urged that 'drunkenness should be regarded as a criminal offense only when it is accompanied by disorderly conduct.' That signal kicked off a revolution in how our nation viewed and confronted drunkenness."
Califano concluded, "The Texan in the White House today has the opportunity to spark the same kind of revolution in how the nation views and confronts all substance abuse and addiction."
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