European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 21, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns James Kilpatrick Swift sure punishment would deter drug users some years ago game wardens in Virginia were having a bad time with the spotlighting of Deer. This is the contemptible practice by which Hunters drive slowly Down a country Road at night. Seeing a Deer near the Roadside they Shine a powerful spotlight into the animal s eyes. The Deer is immobilized. Dang bang and the slobs move on. To get to the Point the state legis lature responded with a draconian Law. Any person convicted of spotlighting a Deer would face not Only a stunning Fine but much More his automobile and All the guns of All the passengers would be confiscated. The Law worked marvelous by. After a few such confiscations the word spread. Almost nobody spotlights Deer in Virginia anymore. Big Bill Bennett director of the office of drug control policy is thinking along the same lines. On sept. 5 he will release his formal report and recommendation son what to do about the appalling prob Lem of drug use in America. This much is certain he will dwell at length on Steps that might be taken against users. This is not to suggest that Bennett will ignore the Supply Side but the director sees Little future in bombing the coca Fields of Colombia with herbicides. He acknowledges the futility of erecting thousands of Miles of electrified fences along our Borders. Efforts at interdiction will Raul be diminished they will be intensified and Bennett will ask for More prisons More prosecutors More drug enforcement agents. He does not intend to Call off the dogs. Neither is Bennett Low rating the necessity for education treatment and habilitation As distinguished from re habilitation of addicts. On the contrary in recent speeches he has harped earnestly upon the moral obligation of parents churches and schools to Redou ble their efforts at educating Young peo ple in the consequences of drug use. But the drug Czar a title he deplores but can t escape has other ideas As Well. In a recent speech in Washington he bore Down on the theme that people who arc guilty of drug offences must come to recognize the inevitability of punishment severe punishment. He continued this holds True perhaps even More True for the non addicted user the so called casual user casual use is not Don Schoen we re the fees every body uneop/w60 quietly to the bathrooms just a matter of personal preference. It has costs wide horrible social costs. The suburban Man who drives his Bow downtown to buy cocaine is killing him self of course. But he s killing the City at the same time. And his casual use is Best deterred not by empty threats of Long hard punishment but by certain punishment. Compel him As authorities Are doing in Phoenix to pay a Steep Fine and spend a weekend in jail. Seize his Bow right after he s bought some dope and when he s convicted take the Caraway from him for Good. That s what they do in  in the same vein Bennett urges pro Grams he cites the example of Toledo Ohio by which the parents of drug buy ing juveniles Are hauled into court along with their charges. Minors who Are non addicted users must be taught Early on that they cannot behave with impunity and parents who have effectively turned them Loose must learn through civil penalties Why the social contract demands that they oversee and control the impulses of their  still More schools must have explicit policies discouraging drug use and drug dealing. Penalties must be imposed and they must be appropriate ranging from detention to suspension to outright expulsion. No one likes to expel a child from school but the needs of ayoung dealer arc As nothing compared to the needs of the school population on which he preys. Retaining a Young dealer in school May suggest to Law abiding students that his crime is in some sense excusable and that is a failure of Basic moral  most of these proposals arc beyond the direct reach of Federal legislation. They would require action by state Legislatures and local governments but As Bennett observes Congress holds the persuasive Power of the purse. In times past Congress has threatened the states with loss of Federal Aid if they did not come around to Federal policies. Such a big stick might offend the Doc Trine of federalism but Bennett is deaf to that argument. If demand goes Down Supply goes Down. If users Are punished As certainly As suppliers perhaps by sus pension of Drivers licenses we will see fewer users. That s the whole idea. In Betta Preu Boot Camps for drug offenders us another fad an emerging tool for throttling the Small time crack dealer is a rigorous 90 Days in a Good old fashioned Boot Camp. With drug Czar William Bennett in the Lead enthusiasts forecast great benefits from these military style facilities that Are cropping up across the country. Boot Camps we Are told give Young culprits a Strong measure of discipline along with the lesson that we Are not going to tolerate their activities. A dose of shaved Heads push ups and enforced obedience will deter in mates from even thinking about peddling drugs  will be shaped up and shipped out to join the mainstream of Good citizens sometimes even with new Job skills. Moreover Boot Camps Are fast turnaround programs in which Large numbers of offenders can be quickly run through the system at a much lower Cost than in conventional prisons. If All this were True Boot Camps would signal the rebirth of incarceration As a rehabilitative tool. For is years we have heard that rehabilitation in prison was a failed idea and. That the explosion in the prison Popula posed nals in one Quick drive through the offender is cleansed of errant leanings and redirected toward a productive life. Another crime fighting fad caught our attention a few years ago. Every prison Warden was pushed to replicate a program called scared straight. Youngsters from school classes would file into the Depths of prisons to be verbally assaulted by a group of Tough looking hardened cons. In the Rawest of terms kids were told to keep their lives in order or they too would end up in the mess they saw before them. The program was to be the magic potion that would Stem our growing delinquency problem. But after a Short flurry it disappeared with hardly a Trace. The cure for delinquency is too complicated to be scared into exis tence. The Boot Camp fad also will pass when it be comes Clear that it docs Little to thin the ranks of drug paddlers. With its veneer removed the Boot Camp is just another version of the one note theme that has been sounded for the past decade As the solution to crime a pure simple minded and unsuccessful pro Gram of More and More incarceration. However rather than disappear like scared straight the Boot Camp facilities will be added to this country s growing roster of prisons in which More people will do More time. The real answer to America s intolerable crime and crack problem is to be found by noticing who is in our prisons inmates drawn almost exclusively from the ranks of the poor Black and latino. Doing something about the conditions that generate this lopsided Situa Tion is complicated but at its most Basic level it Means changing the environments in which the Young see Graffiti before they Sec Beauty hear gunshots before symphonies and feel despair before Hope. That s a Tough order but we can Start by being Hon est about what docs not work. Threatening drug Sellers with penalties from Boot Camps to electric chairs is to fail to recognize the feebleness of deterrence in the criminal Justice system. So Long As drug dealing can put poor kids in bows the humiliating shout of a Drill sergeant is Short lived noise. Aggressive competitors in the drug Trade arc far More life threatening than the Specter of an electric chair. And the last thing the Young drug dealer needs to learn from a Boot Camp encounter is How to be a bigger better and More Macho drug Mer chant. Schmo i Dlf actor Olih. Jut Etc. Program of Tow com my cowl  and Feraut   lot in Nwosu. Tha pm angst of to Law the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoon son this Page represent those of be authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing he views of the stars and stripes or the United states government