|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
An Open Letter to the New Drug Czar
| Article
# : |
18675 |
|
|
Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
|
| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1991 |
2,247 Words |
| Author
: |
Mark A.R. Kleiman and Rebecca M. Young
Mark A.R. Kleiman is lecturer in public policy and research
fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University, where he teaches courses in policy analysis and
conducts research on drug policy and crime control. His book
on drug policy will be published by Basic Books early next
year.
Rebecca M. Young has conducted research on community
anti-drug efforts, intermediate sanctions, and innovations in
policing at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. |
Dear Governor Martinez: Congratulations on your new job as drug czar. No doubt you were aware when you took the job that you are about as far from having the absolute power of a czar as it is possible to get. You have accepted the full responsibility for handling a complicated and intractable problem but possess only a fragment of the relevant authority.
For one thing, even if you were all-powerful on drug issues within the federal government, most of the hard work of drug abuse control--law enforcement, education, and treatment--goes on at the state and local levels (and, of course, in countless nongovernmental institutions: families, workplaces, and churches). As mayor of Tampa and then governor of Florida, you probably had more influence over the drug problem in that city and state than all the federal agencies combined. Even within the federal government, though, your office has more in common with the Council of Economic Advisors than it does with the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the vast majority of the federal employees working on the drug problem aren't working for you, but for the departments of Justice, Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Education. Your power is primarily the power to advise, propose, study, criticize, and exhort.
These are not negligible powers. Fortunately, you have a fairly attentive audience of law enforcement agencies, state and federal legislators, judges, correctional officials, teachers, parents, newspaper editors, and drug treatment providers, which puts you in a position to make a considerable difference in how the nation deals with its multiple drug problems.
In addition to lack of authority, one of the burdens of your office is to be subjected to reams of unsolicited advice, of which this letter is a sample. At least we don't plan to give you a simple formula for winning the war on drugs, because we're convinced that no such formula exists. Indeed, the illusion that there is such a formula is one of the major problems you have to deal with.
Instead, we would like to offer a few suggestions designed to make our drug policies do more good, with fewer unwanted side effects, than they now do. This is less exciting than the comprehensive solutions available from any cab driver, hairdresser, or candidate for country commissioner, but the practical value may be higher.
Worrying about Damage
As drug czar, your
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
