But public sentiment, as this Gallup poll attests, has not changed. Americans still want a tough and decisive drug control policy with the federal government rightfully leading the fight. It is no surprise that Gallup found more than nine in ten Americans seriously concerned about drug abuse, and that the issue of drugs rates second only to violent crime in seriousness. Of that number, about 58,000 will become regular cocaine users and addicts. Cocaine, heroin and marijuana cases all have increased sharply to record levels.
Policy follows attitude.
But the public's attitude is not one of indifference toward the scourge. When asked what they wanted to see a lot more of, more than half of the Gallup respondents cited strict law enforcement and education of the young, and two-thirds cited reduction of the supply of drugs coming into the United States. Unlike the effective and modest treatment programs sponsored by churches and using variants of the 12-step method, the government treatment bureaucracy is manifestly wasteful and ineffective. From 1988 to 1994, federal drug treatment spending almost tripled while the estimated number of treatment slots actually declined. And the discouraging result is that overall cocaine treatment is not significantly reducing the polulation of hard core addicts.