It’s getting worse and worse and worse. And when does it stop? And who stops it?

Bob Dole was asking some of the most pertinent questions in the continuing debate over what America will do to combat its drug problem.

President Bill Clinton’s anti-drug policy can be viewed as lackluster at best, and a complete failure at worst.

Since 1992, when Clinton took office, teen-age drug use has doubled.

Recent statistics show that approximately one in nine children between the ages of 12 and 17 admited to using illegal drugs in the past month. This compares with one in 19 before Clinton took office.

Despite the rising use of illegal narcotics by American youths, the White House has remained relatively quiet on this issue.

Clinton originally cut his White House drug policy staff by 80 percent, and has failed to initiate or even offer a new plan of attack in America’s continuous “War on Drugs.”

Funding for traditional drug-fighting units has also been cut.

The Pentagon had its drug-fighting budget cut by 25 percent in 1993. Dole said the National Guard’s anti-drug budget had been cut from $230 million to $158 million.

Dole’s solution to America’s drug issue attacks a portion of the issue: availability.

Dole has said that if elected he will seek to make the flow of drugs into America a near impossibility, through the use of the National Guard and increasing aid to nations who intensify their own efforts to curtail producers and traffickers.

While some critics of Dole’s plan say that reducing the supply of narcotics to American streets has had little effect on availability, it is clear that the influx of hard drugs must be curtailed.

Certain drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, are being bought and sold at some of the lowest prices in memory.

“Treatment is important,” Dole told the 118th National Guard Association of the United States conference. “But why don’t we prevent it? Then we don’t have to worry about the treatment. Cut off the supply.”

Dole’s plan fights half the battle.

The other half can be addressed through treatment and education.

Through these points of attack, not only can the supply of hard drugs into America be curbed, but so can the demand.