The Education of William Bennett

Everyone knows that education can change behavior. Consider the recent experience with tobacco. The public health campaign about the dangers of smoking coupled with new prohibitions against smoking in public facilities have led to dramatic drops in cigarette consumption. In a report released Monday, the American Cancer Society projected the first decline in the number of deaths from lung cancer among men since the group began keeping statistics.

Other examples of how education has altered undesirable behavior are too numerous to mention, which is why it’s puzzling that William Bennett, the federal drug czar, chooses to minimize the value of education in keeping kids off drugs. Tough law enforcement and stiff punishment are the best deterrents for children, he said. Drug education is merely a “helpful auxiliary” in the war against drugs, Bennett recently told a Senate committee.

He prefers more soldiers, cops and jails; law enforcement continues to get the largest slice of the Bush Administration’s proposed $10.6-billion drug budget. There is some new money in the Bush program for prevention and treatment, but education programs, which we think ought to reach all students, would reach only a fraction of them. Why not try to get to a youngster before he or she becomes a hardened user and punishment is required? Devaluing anti-drug education is unworthy of the drug czar.