Pubdate: Tue, 08 May 2001 Source: Capital Times, The (WI) Copyright: 2001 The Capital Times Contact: http://www.thecapitaltimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73 Author: John Nichols BUSH'S DRUG CZAR DINOSAUR IS NO BARNEY You would think that a man with George W. Bush's, er, familiarity with illegal substances might be sympathetic to calling a cease-fire in America's $50-billion-a-year drug war. But, in Bush's parlance, that would be a "misunderstandimation" of the president. The man who still refuses to discuss exactly how much cocaine he snorted in the 1970s is drawing fire for his nomination of "do-drugs, do-time" extremist John P. Walters to serve as the nation's drug czar. "Walters is another white male from the conservative Washington, D.C., think tank crowd who supports the 'shoot-first-ask-questions-later' approach to the drug war," says Keith Stroup, director of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws. A Heritage Foundation acolyte, Walters quit a Clinton administration drug policy gig to protest moves to spend more money on drug treatment - as opposed to the get-tough, incarceration strategy he favored. In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, he dismissed calls for a greater emphasis on prevention and treatment as "this ineffectual policy - the latest manifestation of the liberals' commitment to a therapeutic state in which government serves as the agent of personal rehabilitation." How does Walters propose to win the war on drugs? For one thing, he's a big fan of stepping up U.S. drug war interventions to assist the Colombian and Peruvian armed forces in the difficult work of shooting down American missionary planes. While thinking Republicans, such as former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell of California, warn that Colombia is Latin American for "Vietnam," Walters has no fears about getting the United States entangled in the civil warfare of distant lands. Indeed, with a tip of the hat to Gen. William Westmoreland, Robert McNamara and other like-minded individuals, he says: "Foreign programs are cheap and effective." Walters does not limit his interventionist impulses to so-called "foreign programs." He wants to insert the tentacles of the federal drug war apparatus even deeper into the grass roots. For instance, he says he will battle state efforts to exempt users of medical marijuana from criminal prosecution. Walters doesn't buy the scientific research that says marijuana eases the pain and symptoms of people suffering from cancer, glaucoma and other serious ailments. Walters has lots of problems with scientific research. He calls complaints that drug law enforcement tactics disproportionally penalize minorities one of "the greatest urban myths of our time" and dismisses as "utter fantasy" the claim that jails are packed with drug users who need treatment - despite Bureau of Justice Statistics data that 25 percent of America's 2 million prisoners were locked up for drug offenses. Just how far out are Walters' drug war fantasies? Even Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the Clinton administration drug czar who was no softy on crime-and-punishment matters, has warned that the views of his likely successor are too extreme. "Instead of finding a 'compassionate conservative' to lead our anti-drug efforts," argues Stroup, "President Bush has selected a man whose views are regarded as harsh and extreme, even among drug warriors." - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager