European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 05, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 19 the stars and stripes columns Tom Wicker overreaction to fear of drugs could backfire the Bush Bennett War on drugs is not Only under financed and misdirected toward predictably ineffective Law enforcement rather than needed treatment but like any other War it is also sure to produce a danger Ous wartime mentality that anything goes in Pursuit of Victory. No one argues that nothing needs to be done about drugs particularly crack the cheap cocaine derivative that Cre ates virtually instant addicts. In a re cent new York times lbs news poll the number of those who consider drugs the nation s single worst problem had risen to 64 percent from 20 percent a year ago and election researchers everywhere As in the new York City mayoral election Are finding that drugs and crime form the Issue most alarming to the voters. No wonder not when 875,000 people arc estimated to be heavy users of illegal drugs in new York alone when 17,500 crack babies were born to addicted mothers in Florida in 1987, when total cocaine business in the United states is reckoned at $150 Bil lion annually when drugs and the crime associated with this dirty Trade arc wrecking families and neighbor hoods everywhere. To cast the needed counter Effort As a  however and to slant it so heavily toward combat arrests and jailing the Bush Bennett War counts on the states to put up $5 billion to $10 billion for new prisons could pro Duce an ugly backlash. Even Bush won t claim that his War can have the kind of conclusive effect wars Are supposed to have or can redeem his overblown inaugural pledge to end the Scourge of drugs. An inevitable effect of wartime mentality however is the expectation that someday the War will end in Victory of course. Bush in fact issued a ringing Call for Victory Over drugs in his Tele Vised declaration of War but he already know and administration officials now concede that nothing like such a Victory can be achieved for decades to come if Ever and that the actual Bush Ben Nult goals Are far More modest. What will happen to Public and con Gressional attitudes if a supposed War like the real one in Vietnam drags on endlessly with marginal achieve ments and no apparent Hope of Victory some will give up no doubt but Many perhaps More will Call for escalation Leon Daniel want this neighbourhood liberated prom the dealers and the pushers and Given Back to the people a new weapons More troops tougher tac tics Victory at any Price. The Likely ineffectiveness of the Bush Bennett War will drive Many Wor ried americans to such conclusions Al ready some dangerous attitudes arc in evidence. A Washington Post Abc news poll published the Day after Bush s speech found a shocking 62 per cent of respondents willing even now to give up a few of the freedoms we have in this country to support a War on drugs. What will they be willing to Sac Rifice by say 1995? specifically 52 percent said they would be willing to have Home searched and 67 percent would allow cars to be stopped by police without court orders even if people like them selves were searched by mistake. Thu would these americans surrender rights secured for 200 years by a Constitution they supposedly Revere. Perhaps even More dangerous since the consequences arc unpredictable 82 percent favored allowing the military to combat illegal drugs within the United slates. Combat How the Pentagon it self is opposed to any such variant of martial Law and so should be any american who cherishes the Freedom we All extol. A 55 percent majority supported mandatory drug testing urine tests for All americans about the most intrusive program big brother could undertake 67 percent backed such tests for All High school students and 83 per cent favored reporting drug users including relatives not to treatment Cen ters but to the police. Other sacrifices of constitutional rights easing the rules of Evi Dence preventive detention draconian sentencing might easily be spawned in a wartime mentality identification cards already arc being required in a Washington housing development beset by drug criminals. Drastic action to Stop drugs is advocated at All Levels not least by survivors in poor neighbor hoods blasted by crack and crime. So As always in this country the major threat to constitutional freedoms internal and the Force behind thai threat is fear once fear of subversion now fear of drugs. If in this Case fear is justified the resulting wartime spirit is Only the More dangerous. And those few freedoms that might be lost will not easily or Ever be regained. New Yak times it s children Nof the Rich who need a break count among the congressional champions of the overdo those renegade House democrats who supported the Bush administration by voting to Cut capital gains taxes for the Rich. Those who backed the Giveaway should Stop practice ing voodoo economics and read a bipartisan congressional study made Public monday that discloses that it s America s children who need a break. The lawmakers should know that More children than Ever Are homeless or living in families shattered by poverty divorce or drugs. Nearly half of All Black children in America live in , before the representatives vote on a number of child care proposals let s Hope they give some Atten Tion to the study by the House select committee on children youth and families. They need to keep firmly in mind that children Are the single largest poverty group among All americans. The lawmakers got it wrong last week managing somehow to give 80 percent of the benefits from the capital gains tax Cut to people making More than $100,000 a year. President Bush won his presidency s biggest Victory with the unexpectedly lopsided 239-190 vote in the House of representatives against a democratic plan Tob lock Bush s 30 percent tax Cut on sales of assets such and stocks and real estate. But it was a stunning defeat for the landmark 1986 tax Reform Law passed three years ago with for Mer president Reagan s support. That worthy Law scrapped a system of huge tax Rales coupled with Spe Cial  Reform gave America a simpler system of lower rates made possible by eliminating a dizzying array of exemptions and  goal was fairness. Capital gains were to be treated the same As Ordinary income. The lax code was to be an instrument for collecting Revenue rather than achieving social or icon Mic  supported the tax Reform Law Bush told reporters last week but in last year s Campaign there were one or two areas where i Felt that we needed to use the lax system to achieve various  administration argues that the tax Cut will Spur business investment creating jobs and Prosperity but Many economists dispute this the House action will prompt demands from other taxpayers that their incomes be Given special treat ment. Senate democratic Leader George Mitchell of Maine predicts the lax reduction plan can be stopped in the  Senate democrats Are Selling an alternative proposal crafted by finance committee chairman Lloyd Buntson of Texas expanded deductions for individual retirement account. Unlike a similar proposal Defeated in the House bunt san s plan would be underwritten by eliminating some tax credits and extending excise taxes due to end this year. But expanding Ira deductions is a special break that won t do much for the growing number of children who come to school ill fed in poor health and who too often arc homeless. United pm  the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government