Bush Drug Strategy Falls Short in Some Ways, Religious Leaders Say

President Bush’s drug control strategy is eliciting some positive feedback from the religious community, but several religious leaders contacted after the President’s speech criticized the program for devoting too little to drug prevention and treatment.

Citing the country’s “outrage against drugs” and promising “an assault on every front,” Bush presented a drug-control strategy over national television Tuesday that allocates nearly 70% of a $7.9-billion outlay toward law enforcement and the remainder to prevention and treatment.

Several religious leaders interviewed said that while enforcement efforts against drug traffickers and users is necessary, the President’s plan puts disappointingly little emphasis on stemming the demand for drugs.

‘Good Things in Plan’

Ron Sider, executive director of Evangelicals for Social Action, said there are “a lot of good things” in the plan, such as suggestions for tougher penalties for drug users.

“But I still think there’s too much emphasis on limiting supply rather than reducing demand,” Sider said. He said there should be more resources allocated for drug education efforts and to rehabilitation of drug addicts.

Mary Bohlen, director of the substance abuse program for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, said she was “a little bit disappointed that the emphasis was so heavily on law enforcement.”

“There has to be a coordinated effort to fight the supply side and demand side,” Bohlen said. “If you continue to have the demand side going up, you have exactly what you have today.”

Education Need Cited

Like Sider, Bohlen acknowledged the need for strong law enforcement efforts but suggested that more emphasis be put on education programs such as those operated by the New York Archdiocese, which sponsors 12 regional substance abuse offices.

Among the archdiocese’s programs are counselor training classes for adults from a broad cross section of community groups and peer ministry programs in which high school students are trained to bring the anti-drug message to other young people in their parishes.

The Rev. Patrick L. Williams, pastor of the Crest-Moore-King United Methodist Church in Dallas, who is heading up a regional effort that encourages churches to establish drug-free zones, said the President’s strategy “falls far short of where we need to be.”

More Centers Needed

Williams said there is a need for more drug treatment centers “directly in the communities” and for education programs that improve the “self-image and self-esteem” of inner-city youth.

Williams said Bush appeared to stop just short of proposing a strategy that would amount simply to increasing the number of judges and jails.

“That is not really the answer, incarcerating people,” said Williams. Citing a need for an “aggressive” approach to stem not only drug supplies but drug demand, Williams said he did not think the President’s program does that.

The Rev. Billy A. Melvin, executive director of the National Assn. of Evangelicals, had the most positive response to Bush’s drug strategy.

Criticism Inevitable

Melvin said the President “is to be commended for addressing a very critical issue in our country.” He maintained that Bush was bound to be criticized no matter how he planned to allocate the $7.9 billion.

The National Assn. of Evangelicals official acknowledged that drug use “permeates our society, and the church community is not segregated from the problem.”

“Homes of people within the church have been uprooted by drugs,” Melvin said. “They (the churches) are all dealing with people who are caught up in drugs--you can’t avoid it.”

Mary Cooper, acting director of the National Council of Churches’ Washington office, welcomed the President’s “expressions of profound concern” about the drug crisis.

Crack Cocaine Threat

She noted that drug abuse, particularly that involving crack cocaine, has been an issue of great concern to the National Council. She pointed to a May resolution by the agency’s Governing Board calling on churches to educate members about crack cocaine and urging the government to provide adequate funding to address problems of demand and law enforcement.

Cooper also noted that the council’s Division of Church and Society co-sponsored a crack cocaine conference in San Francisco last spring which resulted in creation of a national network of religious leaders dedicated to fighting crack.