ederal drug czar Barry McCaffrey met last week with religious-right values guru James Dobson, and praised the efforts of sectarian groups in operating social programs to combat illegal substance abuse among young people. McCaffrey was in Colorado Springs for an address at the local World Affairs Council dinner. While there, he also met with Dobson at his "Focus on the Family" offices and visited the headquarters of another religious ministry known as Young Life, organized in 1941 "to provide young people with friends, mentors and good times in a Christian atmosphere"

   "I'm enormously proud of what you're doing here," McCaffrey told employees of the ministry. "This is precisely what America needs."

   News of the meeting, including McCaffrey's rendezvous with Dobson, broke Wednesday in a Denver Post article reporting the drug czar's visit to Colorado Springs.

   It isn't the first time that McCaffrey has used his post as head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to call for the involvement of sectarian groups in the "war on drugs." Last year, while addressing the National Day of Prayer rally on the steps of the federal capitol building in Washington, D.C., McCaffrey unveiled a new plan to enlist churches and other religious organizations through an "Anti-Drug Faith Initiative." The Washington Post noted, "The initiative is one of a growing number of partnerships between government, usually at the state level, and religious institutions." While paying lip service to the separation of church and state, McCaffrey said that his Office would only make "suggestions" to churches.

   McCaffrey's visit to Colorado Springs and meetings with Dobson and the Young Life ministries underscores a growing effort to form "partnerships" between government and religious groups, ostensibly to address a wide range of social problems. Indeed, McCaffrey's elevation to the post of national drug czar, came along with increasing calls from liberals and conservatives alike to find ways of using public money to involve churches in the welfare administration system.    Both Vice President Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, for instance, have called for "partnerships" with religious organizations during their respective campaigns for the White House.

   The tone for injecting a religious component to the floundering drug battle was set in a 1996 study by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which criticized the Clinton administration's efforts in this area. Several proposals were put forward, including calls for the President to use his "bully pulpit" more boisterously, and the claim: "Washington must get serious about promoting rehabilitation that works, such as religion-based programs, instead of simply funding programs that promise to rehabilitate drug addicts and fail to deliver..."

   The Foundation also cited the need to enact legislation like the controversial American Community Renewal Act (HR 3467), introduced by Reps. James Talent (R-MO) and J.C. Watts (R-OKLA). The measure "would allow neighborhood groups, including religious institutions, the same access to federal funds that is enjoyed by other drug treatment and counseling facilities..." The Heritage study added: "Discrimination against effective religiously based programs should end" and "...religiously based programs should be eligible for funding."

   The Welfare Reform Act of 1996, which enjoyed broad bipartisan support on capitol hill and was signed into law by President Clinton, was a step in this direction. Religious groups engaged in social programs were authorized to seek public funding on the same level as nonsectarian, nonprofit organizations. Restrictions, though, required that any public money could not be spend for religious proselytizing -- a stipulation which critics of "faith-based partnerships" say is difficult, if not impossible to enforce.

   McCaffrey used his new appointment as head of the ONDCP to begin a nationwide recruiting effort to involve churches and other faith-based groups in the drug war. In July, 1996 for instance, he keynoted a meeting of 57 Detroit area churches involved in anti-drug activity, citing the program as a "national model."

   Not all religious groups are eager for financial assistance or a partnership with government. Some, such as the Seattle, Wash. "Teen Challenge" ministry, rely solely on private and institutional grants. The executive director told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper that the Bible-based rehab regimen is "not a laid back, glorified drop-in program," but rather a "spiritual boot camp."

   Religious conservatives on capitol hill, however, are seeking ways to further amend welfare legislation and permit sectarian groups which accept public money to retain their "religious character" and operate "faith-based" rehabilitation and social service outreaches. ACRA now lingers in the house as H.R. 463, and in the senate as S. 463. The legislation calls for funding of "renewal communities" and strikes any federal or state requirements that participating religious groups "remove religious art, icons, scripture or other symbols."

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