The news report in the Chicago Tribune (Nov. 28) announcing Illinois will receive $7.5 million in funds to fight drug abuse under an expedited program announced by U.S. education secretary William Bennett is another example of the ”Washington Reflex.”
Whenever a crisis develops to the point where the responsibility for solving it falls on the federal government, the congressional reaction is the simple way out–appropriate and distribute funds to states and local governments for them to use in solving the problem.
It is known as the ”Washington Reflex” and has been in existence for many years–even though it never works.
Two-hundred-million dollars has been appropriated by Congress for the anti-drug program. California gets $15,598,768; Texas $11,111,452; New York $10,874,028; Illinois $7,478,862; Pennsylvania $7,231,262; and Ohio $7,092,200. With the billions of dollars in profit in illegal drug sales and use, can $200 million solve the problem?
