European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 31, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Jim Fain education treatment can win the War on drugs   attacking Beach waders in a feeding frenzy. Washington snaps at whatever bait Jill stats bin As the political Issue do Jour. I this is inc end of May i9ss, the bail must be drugs and never mind Hal in february president Reagan mid inc War on drugs was an untold Success Story As late As april 21. His Secretary of health and human services made head lines by begging to differ with his Victory claims. New a f is new York times poll says people Sec drugs As Public enemy no. 1. And Hull s cut1 enough. Reagan wants an Nihar task Force. George flush says he would put his vice president in charge of the drug War which i is what Reagan did. Presumably Bush Hopes to have a most effective veep , Lillikakis vows to fight Ever harder. Jesse Jackson is miffed lie though he invented the Issue and in truth was Ham Pionig it while Cagan in Allied the Hattic had been won. Bush wants the death penalty a sure fire antidote m All evil. He ignores the fan drug dealers function under constant death threat. Adding the Federal govern ment to their hit squads is Apt to strike them As redundant. Consultant ludic Man or.  lit Republican View the death Penally gives Usa Way Hack mint Lic  Well politics aside drugs Are a pro Lein and have been since the ids Fot Fol the Patch plaster solutions rang ing from hush s death Penn Ltd hell by Golly not be outreach old on anything these Days to invoking the army. Navy and marine., to Legal Ivalinn. Viditc for mini1 a flu above. We should have in Ali Vij marijuana Long . The belter to control Ani As it hut thai s a far cry Frum taking criminal sanctions Oil cocaine heroin and Angi l dust. Is of that marijuana is Good for any body. It s plenty harmful but not Nodic Flora Lewis live. Most researchers agree it s ifs destructive than tobacco and alcohol cocaine heroin and pci1 arc Addic Tive and deadly especially the newer and More popular forms of cocaine such As crack dropping criminal sanctions against these would Send inc wrong Mes Sage. Where we go wrong is in thinking a Law by itself will Siilvy a problem we can t Seal our Borders against smuggling. It s physically impossible. We cannot eliminate drugs by reducing Supply. The smuggler always ill slay ahead in Hal game. Allf. Hope for ridding society of Hie drug Scourge is education and treatment especially the former. Nancy reason s just say no May be oversimplified and Loo Little hut it Aims in the right direction. We reduced tobacco smoking by one third with sustained education we be even begun to Cut consumption of Hoory by convincing people drunks Are less tool than Hollywood used to Iti Ink. We can do Hie same with drugs. In deed with the reception of crack usage his come Down in recent years most no Lii Mihly and beneficially tinning inc Young it s a ions Tough process hut there s no magic shortcut however much the George Bushes prattle. People must be convinced through Hope 10 Bailie for Ihei rown sanity. Politicians who Cip Loit Public fear on this subject do not help they Sci a inc Issue for its publicity then move on to the next sensation. They distract from the serious business of restoring health. If capital punishment has a role we ought to saw in for Lemsy who try to milk National tragedy for political profit. Cd no Summit meeting offers reasons for optimism Moscow president Ragan is in his fourth Pucci Agusar Summit conference with Mikhail Gorbachev. In is a stunning completion of a full Cycle since the last presidential visit to the Kremlin when Richard Nuon and Leonid Ureah nov launched de Tente in 1972. And in is a moment to consider the unending Par Adox of How rapidly things change anti recur. The lesson is thai inc present can never be Frozen and therefore the Ful Urc will not loot the same Tomor Row As i i does today. There Are big differences Between the new relations inc United Stales is cautiously forging with the soviet Union and the essentially tactical Nixon Brcich nov detente. The United slates then was try ing to wriggle its Way Oul of the Vietnam War with out abandoning Saigon. To turned out Hal these Cret plan for ending the War. On which Ninon campaigned in 1968, was simply to persuade mos cow and peking to let the . Go Home. They had no reason to refuse. On his Side Brezhnev s goal was to pursue established soviet objectives Al reduced risk of confrontation with the United slates. The illusion of agreement broke Down when in became Clear Hal there had been no change in conflicting strategies now Gorbachev has an ambitious program for profound change in the soviet Union. He makes no Effort to conceal that his purpose is to strengthen his country to reaffirm and Root ils superpower status in developing economic Power. But he understands that  goals Aren t Likely la be reached with a hit of tinkering a sea change is rising in almost All communist societies. It May carry them beyond the intentions of their rulers who continue to do Al they fan to shape and control in. Tiie main exceptions Are North Korea and Cuba the Only two still ruled by the original revolutionary leaders with no one but themselves to blame for past mistakes and no new perspectives on to to make Power yield development. Their coun tries arc bound to succumb to demand for Reform. As Vietnam is doing once inc ruling personalities have changed because icy. Too have sagged in Stag nation. Whether the communist system is capable of the kind of Reform that can bring the Lind of Success Gorbachev seeks is another question. My own View is probably not but transformation can also come gradually so that there is never a precise moment when it can be said that the system has just Hen been replaced. Orderly change is Eil remly difficult and risky for those in Power but i think there is such a thing As social vaccination which makes countries thai have experienced the horrors of civil War and revolution resistant to repealing such Dis order for no least several generations. In any Case it s going to be a while before Gorba Chev finds answers in his people s performance there can no longer be doubts Hal he is preoccupied Wilh the Effort and Means in when he says he seek Tranquility in soviet foreign relations in the meantime he has shown himself remarkably adept Al Sway ing when he faces resistance pressing Forward when he sees the Chance. He could still stumble and tall but the direction can no More be reversed than the clock of inc waning Century can be turned Back to its beginning of he tails his successors could restore a More abrasive foreign policy to distract from do Myslic problems. That would resolve nothing but the West must be prudent enough to be prepared for the possibility. 1 in contribution of the Reagan adminis i ration s defense buildup ils evil Empire rhetoric ils Star wars Anil Freedom fighter programs to the evolution in Moscow cannot be reasonably weighed. There s just no Way to know whether they pushed Gorbachev or whether he d be doing the same things anyway. What is Clear is that the important change has come in Moscow and Washington is responding in its natural Way just Asil responded naturally to soviet expansionism in the late 1970s. There have also been changes in . Society in this period and in the Orcsi of the world these too make in More Likely that the Dale Nile pension Dia logic Cycle will not simply be repealed at any rate not quickly. There is room for considerable optimism despite the immediate Lack of important new treaties that the period ahead will brine steadier East Wesl relations and reduced risks of War among the major Powers if not for the hapless millions murdering each other in the third world. One thing is sure. Old assumptions Are wearing Oul and the most acute problems and fear at inc end of the Century will not be the same As today s. We will be Back sorting Oul crises but different ones. A Yortis tints trawl of Lyric the opinion expressed in lie Coli unit and Cut Toni on this Page represent who Oftle Mutton wid in inno Iris to be considered n Rete Selling the Rieti of toe stars and Stripe m the United slates government