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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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081489
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08148900.036
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1990-09-17
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NATION, Page 29Fighting on Two FrontsBennett's drug plan targets dealers -- and casual users
For a change, there was good news from the front lines in the
nation's seemingly intractable war on drugs. A new federal survey
has found that casual drug use just may be winding down.
According to the 1988 survey on drug abuse commissioned by the
Department of Health and Human Services, the number of Americans
using illicit drugs at least once a month dropped from 23 million
in 1985 to 14.5 million last year. Even more striking, the number
of cocaine users has dropped an estimated 50%. "Illicit drug use
remains much too high," said DHHS Secretary Louis Sullivan. "But
the dramatic declines (show that) attitudes are changing."
Still, the report offers little hope that the drug crisis will
ease soon. The number of "intensive" (weekly) cocaine users is up
a third, to 862,000 people; nearly 300,000 of them may be using
cocaine daily. Those estimates could be low, since the pollsters
surveyed only households, not transients or people in hospitals and
prisons. Said drug czar William Bennett: "We're now fighting two
drug wars": a manageable fight against casual users and a more
intense battle against crack addiction. "On this second front," he
added grimly, "we are not winning."
Bennett's national antidrug strategy, to be announced formally
on Sept. 5, will propose federal grants of $200 million to state
and local police agencies for reclaiming crack-infested
neighborhoods. Federal law-enforcement efforts would focus on the
hubs of the drug-importation and -wholesaling industry: Miami, Los
Angeles, New York City, Houston and the U.S.-Mexican border.
But Bennett also fervently advocates getting tough on casual
users, through punishments from boot camp to community service to
the loss of driver's licenses and student loans. "In many ways, the
casual user is a more significant carrier of problems than the
addict," he says. "That person by example often suggests that you
can do drugs and be O.K."
Bennett's plan could cost as much as $1 billion the first year.
Where will the money come from? Most congressional drug-war hawks
are withholding final judgment on his strategy until they see the
bottom line. Last week Bennett would not, or could not, come up
with answers.