Reagan’s Fight Against Drugs

We would like to thank you for your strong editorial supporting drug treatment programs.

Those of us who work in the field have felt the impact of funding cuts over recent years and have been warned to expect further reductions in government funding at all levels. This is happening at precisely the time when more and more young people with very serious drug problems are approaching us for help.

The myth that the private sector will pick up the burden is exactly that--a myth. Although we are deeply grateful to those individuals and corporations that donate money and services, these do not begin to fill the gap left by losses of state, federal, county and local revenues.

We are glad that the President has recognized the seriousness of the problem. We feel, however, that his emphasis on arresting dealers and testing workers is shortsighted.

The reality is that drugs will continue to be available in sufficient quantity to satisfy the wants of a never-ending supply of curious and rebellious young people.

What can’t be found in Bolivia will be found elsewhere; and, if in the unlikely event that it can no longer be found anywhere, the ingenuity and greed of modern “chemists” are such that synthetic drugs can be manufactured to produce all varieties of highs, lows, and other altered states of consciousness.

There are no easy solutions. Nor are there cheap solutions. If we truly want to reverse this trend toward heavier and heavier drug abuse among our young people, we are going to have to make an enormous commitment to a multi-pronged effort involving law enforcement, education and treatment.

We need comprehensive drug education programs in our schools and communities. We need outpatient programs that are available at low cost to all who need them. We need many more detox beds for adults, and we need to begin to address the need for detox beds for youth. We need vastly expanded residential programs for both adults and youth.

This will cost a lot of money, but the alternative is to watch our young people die.

KATHERINE McTAGGART-CROSBIE

QUIN CROSBIE

Santa Monica

Crosbie is executive director and McTaggart-Crosbie is director of youth services at New Start.