European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 23, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday december 23, 1993 commentary 1 the stars and stripes Page 17  trickles Down from the top . Rosenthal the surf Ceon general of the United states is iving the cause of narcotics legalization the biggest Oost it has Ever received in America. Or. Joycelyn eiders thinks that legalization of narcotics would reduce crime and generally is so impressed with the idea that she wants Quot studies to be made. Quot studies is a pretty word for the Road to legalization. The Only further study with any meaning would be to see How it works in the United states buying Selling and using narcotics openly without penalty. Maybe her Home state of Arkansas might decide to Volunteer or maybe arkansans and other sensible americans p will decide instead that her Nai a vct6, at Best about drug legalization makes her unfit to be chief medical officer of the United states. Bill Clinton made her state director of health while he was governor of Arkansas. As president he made her surgeon general. The White House says that the president is still against legalization but that elders is am outspoken sort who can be expected to pop out with ideas of her own. But did t they Ever talk about drugs Clinton and elders those years in Arkansas when she was state health director or when she was considered for surgeon general did anybody probe into her attitudes about drug control a or drug surrender As Long As he keeps her on the Job those questions will work against the president. That a a pity because he is having a Tough enough time already showing himself As a hot anti drug Leader. Morally forgive the sardonic word legalization is a Bottom line approach to drug abuse fighting drugs is difficult and expensive we Are losing so lets give in. If they want to use drugs we should save Money and trouble by letting them do it. Crime will decrease because drug gangs will go out of business and the stuff will be so cheap and available everywhere that addicts will not have to steal or Mug to get it. The Bottom line attitude is callous to the Point of cruelty. It also wont work. It is based on ignorance or distortion of drug realities. The drug War is not won but it has paid off. Heroin addiction has been stable at about a half million since 1972. Legalization would have brought Low Cost heroin and probably a couple of million More addicts. Crack in High school fewer students Are using it a not counting the dropouts. Crack use is a common cause and result of dropping out. How will making cocaine entirely available penalty free prevent even More students from dropping out i Don t grasp that. Among children As Well As adults legalization will achieve the purpose of a free Market a to increase Supply improve distribution make customers Cut prices. Reduce crime a sour joke. Legalization might Cut the number of drug pushers killing each other or bystanders killed by Bullet Spray. By this logic aimed robbery should be legalized. Then nobody would get Hurt. But drug availability Legal or not Means drug abuse. More availability More abuse. Abuse of alcohol destroys Homes and lives. Abuse of narcotics docs All that and also crowds the jails. Drug addicts do not Mug or steal simply to get Money for a fix. By the thousands crimes Are committed by drug inflamed addicts. Drugs alone or combined with personality distortions drive addicts into gutters in which they exist by crime a in route to prison. And How Many More baby americans would die under legalization a battered by How Many More drug maddened parents or born damaged How Many More americans would be killed in accidents caused by drugged out Drivers Money we would be spending More on More crime by More addicts on care for More americans driven into hospitals or the streets by their Legal no hassle drug punch Jucs. The Way out is to do our weary Best to Stop drugs from coming into the United states. The Way out is to fight drugs on the streets and in schools. The Way out is to make drug therapy totally mandatory in prison for All convicts with any drug use record at last we would get something out of our jail Money. The Way out is not perpetuation of drug abuse by legalization. From a surgeon general who does not understand that in mind and soul we should take neither advice a nor an  Tho now York time Clinton has great Opportunity to Reform welfare president Clinton is again talking about ending welfare Quot As we know  that pledge first made during his Campaign is one of the issues he used to forge an image for himself As a different kind of Democrat. To end welfare As we know it we must first understand welfare As we have known it. President Johnson a administration took welfare and Sruti it out of control. Johnson a economic advisers warned in 1964 that if the Federal government did not act the poverty rate would jump to 13 percent by 1980, by 1980, after Lens of billions of dollars had been spent to improve life for the poor the poverty rate was 13 percent. Clearly More welfare As we have known it is not the solution to poverty instead it May have been a major cause. Two Republican governors John Engler of Michigan and Tommy g. Thompson of Wisconsin have taken the initiative on welfare Reform. President Clinton could do himself some Good if he were to emulate them. Engler announced the end of welfare As Michigan had known it in october 1991 by abolishing general assistance for single childless Able bodied adults. There were howls of protest from those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. But by april More than one third of All those Cut off from Public assistance had found jobs. Those Cal Thomas with physical or mental handicaps were transferred from welfare to other government programs such As disability payments which they should have been receiving All along. Private organizations in Michigan quickly stepped in to help the neediest of those who were unable to find work. Thompson has gone a step further. With the permission of the Clinton administration Thompson has imposed a two year limit on welfare benefits for indigent families with children. Adults who receive welfare will be required to work for the Money which can include Job training for those unable to find immediate employment. Welfare As we have come to know it is one of the illegitimate children of the �?T60s mentality of government As our keeper. Instead of the father As breadwinner government has become the bread provider eliminating the need of a Man around the House. Federal subsidies removed incentives for people to get Var ried should a single woman become pregnant. As University of Texas professor Marvin Olasky has written in his Book,-77ie tragedy of american compassion marriage was the single most important Antipoverty program in existence prior to the 1960s Quot so Strong was support for marriage that a before the revolution of the 1960s a an unmarried woman who became pregnant usually would get married 85 percent of teen aged mothers who did not want to be married had a second acceptable option placing a child for adoption. Quot fewer than one of every 10 pregnant women chose single parenthood for they feared social ostracism and lacked institutional and financial support. One result of the marriage adoption emphasis was that children had fathers living with them during their Early  but As governments role in the lives of single mothers increased marital obligations declined. With the Advent of abortion and no fault divorce marriage and adoption came to be thought of by Many As the least desirable of All options. The welfare system introduced in the 60s limits social mobility. People feel less compelled to go where the jobs Are because government checks show up automatically in their mailboxes reducing ambition and risk taking. Ending government subsidies for anyone Able to work will do at least two things. First it will Force people to find jobs and that will Benefit them and the taxpayers. Second it will again increase private philanthropic support for the truly needy. When the Slothful have been purged from the welfare roles the Public will then Sec those in real need As deserving of assistance. As Olasky has written Quot individual giving As a proportion of personal income dropped 13 percent Between 1960 and 1976. A the proportion of philanthropic giving devoted to social welfare declined from 15 percent to 6 percent. By the mid-1970s, governments spent about 10 times As much on social services As nonprofit agencies and the nonprofit agencies themselves received half of their revenues from  changing welfare As we have known it will require a changed attitude about personal responsibility and accountability. President Clinton is uniquely positioned among modern democrats to Lead a revolution in welfare Reform. He will be tempted to place form Over substance. If he resists that temptation real welfare Reform could be a hallmark of his presidency and a Benefit to. The whole country. C los Antilus t intes