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From President Nixon's viewpoint, the "national emergency" he has declared is crucial to the country's morale and integral to both the resolution of the war and his own chances of reelection. Last week, for example, several votes for the unsuccessful McGovern-Hatfield amendment to set a Dec. 31, 1971 deadline for U.S. withdrawal from Viet Nam came from Senators troubled by the drug problem. Jacob Javits of New York saw drug abuse as "the kind of issue that can change the whole situation," and warned that "the American people could get so fed up that the troops will all be out of there faster than McGovern, Hatfield or anybody else ever dreamed of, regardless of the consequences." Indeed, in the latest Gallup poll, drugs have moved up to become the nation's third most pressing concern, behind only Viet Nam and the economy.
Archaic Thinking. The approaches to eliminating heroin have too long been sporadic, diffused and confused. The President's program is only a first step, but it is a good one. Nixon's program heralds a more sympathetic approach to the addict's problems. Says one of its architects: "As the notion of the right to rehabilitation evolves into the consciousness of America, it will get us away from the archaic thinking that the drug addict is an evil character." It may also end, or at least curb, the spread of addiction. There is an urgency to the President's drug program. Time is running out—both for the President's goal of a measured end to the war, and for the rehabilitation of a growing number of American youths.