Among George Bush's campaign promises was the promise to create a "kinder and gentler" nation. When the press hounded him to define this phrase he said that it meant that he would try to inspire more volunteer programs and ways of finding solutions to problems without spending government money. This makes some sense since the general public in the United States seems to want things to change but doesn't want to spend any money to find a solution (Weintraub, 1989). In other words, they don't want their taxes increased. Drug abuse is one of the problems that this country faces and yet doesn't want to spend any money to solve. The following then is the way I would try to solve this country's drug problem and find money to help the fight, if I were William Bennett.
First of all, this country needs to spend a little money to bring about more drug awareness, other than "just saying no." It's important to make up our minds about what is and what is not a drug. The staunchest anti-drug people can often be those who smoke two packs of cigarettes a day and who are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. These too are drugs that affect mood and influence behavior. Maybe, then, we should determine that some drugs when used responsibly are okay. These would include caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and probably cocaine. These "good" drugs would be determined by the fact that they are derived from natural sources.
The primary difficulty of such a plan would be the large public outcry on moral grounds. But it wouldn't be difficult for public officials at the federal, state, and local levels to point to prohibition as a failed attempt to legislate morality. Prohibition simply caused an increase in crime and violence. Politicians could also point to the same kinds of violence and crimes that surround the sale and distribution of pot and coke. Further, they could say that they were turning their attention away fro...