enterprise roll off our lips so easily,neven as the growth of our federalngovernment supersedes and weakensnprivate initiative, family integrity, localnschools, charities, and communities. Itnwould be ironic indeed if we did notnsee the lesson of Eastern Europe andnapply it to our own society. It’s time tonroll back the welfare state; it may be thenonly long-term method to help thenneedy.n— Michael WardernWILLIAM BENNETT, in anspeech at Harvard, chided America’snintellectuals for criticizing the war onndrugs without having done their homework.nAs is his custom. Dr. Bennettnlaid down some bad news that was asnwell-founded as it was unwelcome.nNotable among the poorly informednagitators to whom he referred are thenadvocates of drug legalization. Whennasked about the likelihood that theirnproposal, if adopted, would lead tongreatiy increased drug use, they tend tonshrug the question off as speculationnabout a consequence that cannot benpredicted.nA review of pertinent history suggestsnotherwise. In his new book. Cocaine:nThe Great White Plague, GabrielnNahas writes of the epidemic ofnopium addiction that devastated Chinanafter Britain won the Opium Wars andnforced China to rescind its drug ban inn1858. By the end of the century it isnestimated that ninety million ofnChina’s three hundred million peoplenwere addicted.nIn Spain, under the Franco regime,nthe laws imposed severe penalties fornthe possession of any amount of annillicit drug. That policy was extraordinarilyneffective, almost eliminatingndrug use among the Spanish population.nThe Socialist government, whichncame into power in 1982, did awaynwith the stringent penalties and decriminalizednthe possession of drugs fornpersonal use. In 1986 the ChicagonTribune decided to learn what happenednas a result of the change. ThenMadrid police estimated that therenwere 100,000 heroin addicts in thennation, 30,000 of them in the capitalncity. Crime, they said, had also skyrocketednto 38,700 cases of “robberynwith violence” in 1983, up from 3,700ncases seven years earlier. Moreover,n6/CHRONICLESnaccording to the police, 75 percent ofnstreet crime was drug-related.nNahas urges caution about legalizationnon other grounds, too, noting thatnthe use of cannabis, cocaine, and heroinnresults in addiction much morenfrequently than the use of alcohol.nTwo decades ago, the chief of staffnof the largest psychiatric hospital innEurope told members of the U.S.nCommission on Marijuana and DrugnAbuse that his hospital no longer acceptednheroin addicts as patients. Thenattraction of the drug was simply toonstrong for their professional services tonovercome in most cases. With heroin,nand cocaine, too, the desire to end thenaddiction, no matter how genuine andndetermined it is, is usually an insufficientnforce to produce a cure.nThe most successful treatment programsnfor drug addiction involve resi-‘ndence in a community that is powerfullynsupportive of each individual and innwhich drug use is anathematized.nThose are also the ingredients for thensuccessful prevention of drug use —nstigma and a community of sharednideals. Three years ago 60 Minutesnpresented the story of the transformationnof the Cochran public housingndevelopment in St. Louis from a disasternarea beset by crime, drugs, vandalism,ndisrepair, filth, and vermin into anwell-kept, proud residential communitynfree of drugs and crime. The changenwas brought about by Bertha Gilkey,nwho led the residents first in obtainingnauthority to manage the buildings andnthen in establishing firm standards ofnright behavior that were rigorously enforced.nDrug users were not permittednto remain as residents. “We are not anhousing project!” asserted Bertha Gilkey.n”We are a neighborhood!” — ancommunity bound together by standardsnand ideals.nThe world view that dominates thenintellectual community places tolerancenas the highest virtue. To condemnnsome personal action or habit as wrongnand intolerable does not sit well with -nthe opinion-makers who have laborednto create a nonjudgmental culture.nThere are straws in the wind, however,nthat suggest the general populace is onnBertha Gilkey’s side of this issue. OnnGeraldo Rivera’s January 9 program,nwhen a professional drug counselornsaid that America may need to “mobilizena militia against the tolerance ofnnndrug use,” the audience cheered.n— John A. HowardnEUROPEANS ACCUSE Americansnof being childocentric, and I guessnI’d have to plead guilty. My nine-yearoldndaughter is the apple of my eye. Inwant her to live in a society that isnmoral and free, that looks as much asnpossible like the old American Republic,nunsubverted by the welfare-warfarenstate and its allied cultural and religiousnapostasy.nAs a paleo-libertarian, I don’t see thengovernment as useful in achieving this.nThat does not mean I approve ofneverything I wouldn’t outiaw. I see thentraditional family as the essential buildingnblock of society, so I wish ElizabethnTaylor hadn’t married nine times. But Inwouldn’t put her in jail for it.nI worry about drugs and children,nbut I’m convinced that when kids don’tnbecome addicts — and the vast majoritynoutside of certain impoverished areasndo not — it has everything to do withnparents and religion, and little to donwith the accessibility. Even in my quietntown, drugs are available to any youngnperson who wants them, despite thenpolice and the federal War on Drugs.nThe choice is not between a societynthat is drug-free or drug-ridden. Wenhave the latter already, despite billionsnin spending, thousands of agents, andnhundreds of restrictions on ournpersonal and financial liberties. Insteadnthe choice is between a society wherenthese problems are exacerbated by government,nand one where they are not.n(In fact, I would argue that just asnProhibition increased drunkenness, sonthe drug war has increased drug abuse.nAfter nine years of a Reagan-Bushncrackdown, we have more than doublenthe amount of drugs available, by thengovernment’s own statistics, and theynare more potent. Just as Prohibitionngave bootleggers the incentive to producenhigh-profit, high-proof alcoholnrather than less profitable but safer beernor wine, the drug war has led to thenU.S. producing, for example, the mostnpotent marijuana in the world. NotnJamaica. Not West Africa. But NorthernnCalifornia.)nIf I could wave a magic wand andnmake illegal drugs disappear, I wouldngladly do so. But I do not have thatnwand, and neither does the govern-n