Europe: Drugs - Adapting To New

Drugs both legal and illegal - have accompanied humans since the beginning of civilization. But approaches on how to deal with them today continue to differ. Many US states are in the process of changing their drug policies – and there is now a clear trend toward greater emphasis on education and treatment, rather than repression. In Eastern Europe the rapid opening of borders accompanied by economic hardship adds a double challenge to drafting effective drug policies.

Statistically, in each EU member, tobacco and alcohol kill more people each year than do illicit drugs. But policymakers are nonetheless worried by opening of new trade routes bringing with it international organized crime - the availabilityof new narcotics, as well as the emergence of new diseases that can be spread by drug users such as Aids and hepatitis. We face increases in the numbers of drug-related deaths in most European countries. Diseases such as AIDS and HIV can be transmitted by shared needles among intravenous drug users. That trend has accelerated, so the states have adopted new policies focused more on treatment and prevention than interdiction and prosecution.

Some of those policies have already born fruit. In the case of HIP transmission rates, the establishment of needle exchange programs for addicts has been a clear success, preventing the further spread of the disease. Where those programs are absent, as in many East European states, HIV incidence continues to rise sharply.

The difficulty is that in other areas, drawing a direct correlation between the rate of drug use and specific prevention or enforcement programs is nearly impossible. In other words, it is hard to measure the individual effectiveness of different programs on influencing people to avoid or quit drugs. This has allowed politicians to use the drug issue to advance their own goals.

The incidence of drug use depends on many factors – among them - the rate of youth unemployment. This is a particular problem in much of Eastern Europe. Another important factor is whether or not a country lies on a specific drug route, such as the so-called Silk Route from Central Asia or the Balkan Route, which winds from Turkey through Central Europe.

The key to at least partial success is to educate people and, at the level of government, to maintain flexible policies that are periodically revised. Countries should adapt specific programs that have worked in other states, but adopting a one-size-fits-all policy is ineffective.

The EU monitoring group notes in its annual report on drugs in Europe that new substances continue to appear on the market. That's why it is important to stay on top of trends, change policies when needed and above all, remain educated.

We need to learn to live in a world with drugs. We need to do is, first, to be able to detect the new trends, to detect the new substances because some of them can be lethal substances. Second, we need to teach ourselves and our children to live in such a world.

They're taking up for algebra class. Teenagers need incentives to keep it clean.

A new federal report says drug use among secondary-school students rose again last year, including a near doubling in the total who smoke marijuana daily. While get tough advocates continue to lobby for stiffer penalties, supporters of prevention efforts emphasize the need for speedy treatment.

One emerging idea is to use drug tests as the basis for competitions that would recognize teens who stay clean. It is supposed to generate social pressure in schools to reward non-drug use instead of focusing on penalizing abuse. The schools would be scored, and the best records would get awards. The psychology is to emphasize group pride. But individuals could profit, too. In a Dallas program called D-FY-IT (Drug Free Youth in Texas), 10,000 students have taken drug tests voluntarily. Those who pass get cards with discounts of 10 to 50 per cent at 150 local businesses. Specialists are talking to firms about providing college scholarships for students at the cleanest schools.

At least two incentives are at work, experts believe: Students who are enticed by merchandise discounts and help with college might nudge fence-sitting friends away from drugs. Similarly, the threat of tests might help students fend off peer pressure to get high.

Costs and evil liberties concerns may hold back significant expansion of these pilot programs. It's not clear right now who would pay for the tests - not to mention the treatment and counseling that would be offered to those who failed.

The legal concerns about mandatory drug testing await a test case. A possible compromise might be mandatory but anonymous tests, which would provide schoolwide incentives without risking false accusations against individuals. Only more experiments will show whether incentives tied to drug tests can help turn the narcotics plague around. When you're losing a war no strategy should go untried.