WAR ON DRUGS CONTINUES IN UNITED-STATES UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP

Criticism of the ''war on drugs'' pursued under Republican administrat ions has grown in the United States. With the election of Bill Clinton many experts expected a shift from law enforcement policies to an app roach favouring treatment and prevention. The budget announced in Apri l, however, revealed no such shift in allocation of resources. Althoug h the war on drugs has apparently failed to reduce the supply of cheap heroin and cocaine to the United States, the prevention strategy favo ured by its opponents-school based prevention programmes-has not yet b een shown to be effective in dealing with the concentration of drug mi suse among the socially disadvantaged. In looking for new strategies C linton must satisfy both liberals and conservatives in Congress, and c ommunity policing might therefore prove to be a politically expedient option.