
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990                   TAG: 9003023334
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AMERICA ALSO SHOULD UNDERGO SELF-EXAMINATION

IN LIGHT of events in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the United States should undergo a self-examination of our own. Our free-enterprise system has evolved in a most unbridled manner during the last decade.

Shall we judge our success by the fact that the wealthiest's income has recently risen by one-third? Or shall we face the fact that, compared to Western European democracies, the United States tops the list in infant mortality rates, teen pregnancy, substandard medical care for the poor, increasing numbers of children below the poverty line, and an unprecedented drug problem which seems nearly insurmountable? (We have yet to see the burden that cocaine babies will place on our underfunded educational system.)

Our government's prevalent theme - "take care of the rich first and let the chips fall where they may" - reflects its priorities. President Bush is continuing the theme in his high-priority war on drugs. Attempting to establish a drug-free society without even mentioning poverty - the source of much drug abuse - is another effort at high-profile politics on the lowest possible budget.

Bush's leadership on the drug issue is compromised by his association with Reagan's corrupt administration. "Irangate," a much greater threat to our democracy than Watergate, has yielded many a guilty verdict, but not one single prison term has been meted out.

Now we find that drug deals were carried on by the CIA with organized crime and corrupt S&Ls in exchange for Contra money. The criminals at the top are handled with kid gloves, while the little guys pay the real price. Is Bush's campaign on drugs perhaps a smokescreen for what the administration was really doing? Those at the top couldn't have been totally ignorant.

A fresh approach to the drug problem might be more effective. Doubling prison capacity for users will certainly add insult to injury. Our addicts, most of whom are the throwaways of our society, are sick and need treatment centers - not prisons. Decriminalization of drugs, which could possibly reduce the violence associated with the underground drug economy, should be seriously considered.

While the Soviets are restructuring politically to save their economy, we need a perestroika of our own - an economic restructuring to preserve our democracy. Let's hope that Congress will assume the moral and economic leadership needed to recognize and attack the problems, because so far, the Bush administration has missed the point.

CYNTHIA MUNLEY\ SALEM

by CNB