Nixon
in
China
or
Wolf
in
McCaffrey's
Clothing?
Asa
Hutchinson
Confirmed
as
DEA
Chief,
Calls
for
"Compassion,"
Repeal
of
HEA
Drug
Provision
8/3/01
Earlier this week (Wednesday, 8/2) the US Senate took the anticipated step of confirming Asa Hutchinson, a soon to be former US Representative, as chief administrator of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). According to the Associated Press, the lone dissenter in the vote was Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN), serving his first year in the US Senate. Dayton said he disagreed with Hutchinson's support of "the escalation of the drug war in Colombia." Dayton added that Hutchinson "also evidenced no understanding of the effect on our criminal justice system and our penal system of draconian fixed sentencing for possession of small amounts of drugs" and "rejected outright the possibility of decriminalization of marijuana for strictly medicinal purposes." Perhaps reacting to Dayton's comments, or perhaps sensing the larger political winds, Hutchinson came out for a more "compassionate" drug policy. In remarks to the Los Angeles Times the same day, Asa Hutchinson called for more treatment programs for drug offenders -- though still defending aggressive enforcement of US drug laws. He also told Times editors and reporters that he would support allowing drug offenders to remain eligible for student loans. The DEA should embark on "a compassionate crusade," said Hutchinson, which would include removing the anti-drug provision of the 1998 Higher Education Act. The HEA drug provision has sparked a broad-based movement of students, universities, education groups, and civil libertarians who oppose tying student aid to students' drug records. Hutchinson said many drug offenders who wish to further their educations find themselves barred from receiving student aid "even though they've turned their lives around." Allowing such people to receive financial aid would help them "get back to leading useful, productive lives." Despite his call for compassion, however, Hutchinson wants more funding for law enforcement as well as drug treatment. "I don't think we ought to reduce our commitment to law enforcement, because when we did that in 1992, we cut DEA agents, we cut the drug czar's office and we saw at the same time teenage drug use growing up," he told the Times. Hutchinson's remarks reflect the competing political pressures on his new office, as drug warriors fight to keep the drug war drums beating along the Potomac while a growing reform movement demands more treatment on one hand and less aggressive policing on the other. Whether Hutchinson will prove to be a Nixon in China and change national policies, or another Barry McCaffrey bringing lip service to reform while escalating the drug war simultaneously, remains to be seen.
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