This nation’s drug situation tops the list of the most serious international problems of the decade. Last week before a national television audience, President Bush unveiled his plans to fight America’s war on drugs.

Bush’s weaponry includes increased funding to state and local governments to stop drug sellers from corrupting Smalltown, U.S.A., with crack and cocaine. Bush’s pledge of an additional $250 million in law enforcement grants to state and local governments is a positive step toward combating drugs even though there are still not nearly enough funds to get the job done properly.

We watch live coverage of brutal drug busts on the nightly news and read about celebrities’ battles against alcohol abuse in the morning paper, but we are most affected when we see drugs ruin the life of a relative or friend. This is why we need more state funds to prevent drug abuse in our own back yards.

One sorry but necessary component of Bush’s drug strategy is funding for the construction and maintenance of new prisons. Although drug users and sellers must be punished for their actions, free room and board in one of America’s crowded prisons is an inadequate reprimand for such a severe crime.

What is the alternative to prisons? There is no viable option, unfortunately. But increased funding for drug rehabilitation and treatment programs might lessen the crowding in our prisons and benefit society much more than putting drug offenders into already too crowded prisons.