There is a real war against illegal drugs, but contrary to the rhetoric in Washington, it is not being fought in this country. The real war, the one where politicians, judges, journalists and others are dying from bombs and bullets, is in Colombia. Even schoolchildren are being threatened by the drug cartels.

Speaking to the American Legion in Baltimore this week, President Bush said his anti-drug program ``will require the bravery and sacrifice that Americans have shown before and must again.`` Despite his martial rhetoric, the president has not asked Americans to make any real sacrifice in the fight against illegal drugs, which he calls ``the gravest domestic threat facing our nation today.``

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll suggests that most Americans would support a much tougher approach to the drug problem than the one Bush proposed in his speech to the nation last Tuesday night. Most of those sampled, 83 percent, said they approved of Bush's anti-drug strategy, but 74 percent of those familiar with the Bush plan said it did not go far enough in attacking the ``root causes`` of the problem.