by Adam J. Smith and Karynn M. Fish

About the authors: Adam J. Smith and Karynn M. Fish work as the Associate Director and Program Director, respectively, for the Drug Reform Coordination Network, a national organization dedicated to improving current drug policies.

When President George W. Bush revealed his drug war plan, which would pull another $2.7 billion from federal coffers to end the illegal narcotics trade, his speech was all about the children. “The job of protecting our children falls to us,” he pontificated, calling drugs “the enemies of innocence and hope and ambition.”

In 2000 the federal government will spend more than $18 billion to, in Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey’s words, “protect the lives of 68 million American children.” Two-thirds of that money will be spent on...