New DEA Chief Suggests ‘Compassionate’ Policy

The federal government should offer more rehabilitation programs for drug offenders even as it aggressively enforces drug laws, the incoming head of the Drug Enforcement Administration said Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) said he thinks it is “unconscionable” that so many drug offenders are serving time in prison while limited rehabilitation programs exist to help keep them off drugs once they get out.

Hutchinson, who was approved as DEA administrator Wednesday by a 98-1 vote of the Senate, said he will seek additional funding for such programs.

“I don’t think we ought to reduce our commitment to law enforcement, because when we did that in 1992, we cut DEA agents, we cut the drug czar’s office and we saw at the same time teenage drug use going up,” Hutchinson said in an interview with Los Angeles Times reporters and editors.

Hutchinson, a former federal prosecutor and member of the House Speaker’s Task Force for a Drug-Free America, said law enforcement is only one component of an effective anti-drug campaign. Educating youths and providing medical treatment for drug users are key elements as well, he said.

“There is a treatment gap in this country, and we need to have more resources for treatment. I think it is unconscionable for a society to put people in jail and not give them adequate treatment programs in jail,” Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson, a father of four, also said the government must find ways to discourage youths from using drugs such as Ecstasy and make sure they understand the substances are dangerous and illegal.

Such rehabilitation and education efforts should not come at the expense of fighting the drug scourge with aggressive law enforcement, Hutchinson said.

But he said the DEA should embark on what he called “a compassionate crusade” rather than the “war on drugs” so often touted by his predecessors.

As part of that compassionate effort, Hutchinson said he would support allowing convicted drug offenders to remain eligible for federal student loans.

Hutchinson said many offenders who left prison years ago are now finding that they cannot get financial aid “even though they’ve turned their lives around.”

Such financial aid, he said, is an important component in letting drug offenders “get back to leading useful, productive lives.”

Hutchinson said he plans to resign his congressional seat as soon as possible to start his new job. He replaces Donnie R. Marshall, who was nominated by former President Clinton.