European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pago 10 the stars and stripes columns William f. Buckley there s a Beffer Way of fight the drug problem Tii Krc is no doubt about in Manuel Antonio Noriega is an evil Man. A menace to the Hygiene of Panama and a massive Way is Attim for drugs directed to american Consumers. A Crand jury in Florida has imly it d him for crimes which were he convicted in Cicery Case would keep him in prison far 143 cars. We arc informed thai this ii the tint time a . Go Grid jury Lias indicted a chief of state. The whole idea is Imi Guing. One wonders Tor Lui main Yean Mikhail Gorbachev would be in jail in Miami it they gut him in every Vul Merable count. What s inc sentence for killing i million afghans hut Llie Case  Noriega Ine Shahly confronts us with other problems than the Del Traic one of How you ran Force a country to a straddle its Leader. Thai prob Lem of a nurse. Has in do with the regulation of drug i attic. Now a couple of years ago mayor de Koch of new York Well on the air and put in quite bluntly. He was talking shout Colombia Anil about Turkey and he said thai the governments of those countries were Condon ing the i n trod cd Ion into he United slates of the cud equivalent of lethal weapons. Without Fine tuning inc question whether the turkish and colombian govern ments exactly condone the Ciporin of drugs one car to inv agrees that the stuff Hal comes out and is in Ink a drunk or injected into american citizens can have in Many eases a lethal effect. As a matter of fad Chr Plhal effect is often Welcome Over the alternative. Setler dead than a shrunken lifetime spent deserting the family mugging Anil stealing hiding from the cops occupying prison cells and try ing the brain. Lizul to Iveigh against drugs ii l the answer to the a Uhlem of Gen. Noriega nor the answer to inc turkish and colombian problems to be selective Aboul where drugs come from. At least mayor Koch has u Concrete idea go Oul and bomb i Host countries. They Are aging War against Hie american people. Thai Point of View is rational and is in a Way complementary to the position associated with the late Nessim Rockefeller. In was he who in 1973 persuaded inc new York legislature in Albany to pass a Law decreeing a life sentence for everyone apprehended in the dope merchandising business. The Law did not work juries declined la Send people up for life and i in consumption of drugs has increased. Still inc Rockefeller approach in ionian penalties is not to be Tucori tidally excluded. Such Pena Hies work in Singapore and Malaysia for instance. The Irick is to flog the offender whether merchant or consumer for the Riim not Csc and hang him for the second. Husto pres to no More pushers Bui that kind of thing is easier for i it Kuan Yew to do than for or. Rockefeller to he Mcdone. A Nelll esome. Point intrudes As we contemplate the Andrew j. Glass responsibility of merchants of ice Rel substances for american deaths. The Lou co companies unquestionably produce besides stimulation death. Bui one can imagine the filibuster sen. Jesse Helms would carry on if it were proposed thai we execute tobacco growers a Solher outstanding cause of death and desolation in America is alcohol. In would certainly hype the rope Industry if we were to hang All merchants of alcohol. And. Of course the purists could argue trial Aulo mobiles kill. Yes As Many people in one year As were killed in Vietnam in seven years and the rational Structure for punishing people who produce death be comes wobbly. In is by now an undeniable insight Inlo the drug problem that it cannot be controlled save by punishing the consumer. But the logistical problem in doing so is simply insuperable there arc is million americans who use marijuana perhaps 400,000 who Lake heroin at least id limes As Many who take cocaine. A second insight heavily suppressed by inc politicians is that the drug problem is nol diminishing by the ban on the importation of drugs thai ban is the equivalent of Marshall plan Aid for drug growers. More than 50 percent of those in jail in new York stale arc Here on account of drug related crimes. There is one Way in which we could damage Ceil. Noriega and that is to suspend All the. Drug importation Laws. With Otic stroke you would chop the legs off him and the whole army of cretins who make Money off the suffering of others. The continued suffering of drug users becomes an entirely different problem in be faced at other social problems aids alcoholism lung cancer Are faced by education More people would suffer and die than at present one supposes though even that is not known Tor sure if you count in i Host who suffer from the drug addicts depredations. But we would then be facing an internal problem which the problem of drug consumption is. Prospect of real peace Bleak in Central America As Ron Alu Reagan enters his final year in office i drive to Foster latin democracy remains a prime presidential priority. No one doubts the sincerity of Reagan s desire to Roll Back soviet influence a red Lytic that he sees lapping against America s nether Shom. The question is whether his policies actually serve a Advance that goal. From the outset Reagan s True motive hat been to crush the sandinista revolus Ioannes who govern in Managua. Yet you would be hard pressed to find a Polit directive in Washington one at least Hal does t hear an Ultra secret stamp which ids Oul plainly what Reagan really wants done. 11ik administration s chosen Iii Rumini of nicaraguan change Are its so called Freedom fight  or contras. Their sin year struggle against inc sandinista has resulted in More than 25,000 a calms. The Central unable unlike a genuine guerrilla movement to live off the land would soon be out of business without sustained . Financing. Thai s Why a congressional showdown on a new Mil nary Aid package set for Early nest month looms so Large. There arc probably fewer than 50 legislators in both parties whose minds Aren t already made up on this Ifie. Nne Way or the other. At this stage a Small band of Llo airs who could go either Way holds the balance of Power. Ninin i president Diniel Ortega purports to up hold the notion of restoring political pluralism in Nicaragua including an Independent press and the right of opposition parties to operate freely. Onega in Niles thai Csc Ryling could be settled amicably in i Eccl talks Between Washington and Managua. Bui Reagan won t talk to Ortega. Instead he sends him the con iras address and phone number curiously whenever the Fate of Contra Aid hangs in the balance Ortega has a record of doing things that run contrary to his interests. Could it be thai those ill limed Ortega trips to Moscow and those leaks of secret plans to bolster soviet military Aid to his faltering regime have been aimed at heaven forbid actual by steeping Contra Aid alive could it be that Reagan and Onega like two scor pions each dread Hal the other will pcs now the death sting for Reagan the Sling would be this a sandinista decision to reverse course and comply with the terms of the stalled Central american peace initiative the Nobel prize winning plan named for Costa rican president Oscar Arias is now at a critical juncture such a reversal would sap Reagan s cherished goal of destroy ing sandinista Power. For Onega the Sling would be this an american decision to dismember the Contra forces. Such a dismemberment remains a prime goal for Arias and his Central american cohorts genuine peace in Nicara Gua would Lay Bare the underlying failure of sandinista polities and deprive Ortega of the chief rallying cry that a cups things moving. Lately it. Gen. Colin Powell the president s a. Lional Security adviser has injected himself Inlo this duplicitous scene. Powell has warned Arias and his fellow latin peace negotiators Hal unless they scuttle their supposedly wrong headed notions of halting arms to the contras they can i expect Washington to continue pumping in Aid. Such patronizing blackmail is Only Apt to Spur the cease fire negotiators to even greater efforts. Raiher than deterring them. The whole peace process reflects a new found desire by the Central americans to Mailer their own destiny. Congress is never going to give Reagan enough Money to crush the sandinista if Only because Money alone can t do thai. Yet the prospects for a real peace sprouting in Central America remain Bleak so Long As Reagan and Onega and their ideological cohorts continue 10 hold Sway the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this file represent Host of the Urithon and Are in no nay la be considered As representing the views of the stars and Stripe or the United slates government