Pubdate: Fri, 11 May 2001
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright: 2001 St. Petersburg Times
Contact:  http://www.sptimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Author: The New York Times

BUSH CHOOSES WALTERS FOR DRUG CZAR

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Thursday nominated as his drug czar
John P. Walters, who has long argued for jail time over voluntary
treatment for drug offenders, calling him the man to battle illegal
drugs that rob people "of innocence and ambition and hope."

Bush's choice of the conservative Walters to head the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy was criticized by groups that
want to emphasize treating drug addiction rather than punishing drug
offenders or cutting off the supply of narcotics.

As he introduced Walters, who served as the deputy drug director under
Bush's father, Bush tried to defuse criticism of his choice by
declaring that the administration would emphasize treatment, including
through religious organizations. He said, however, that Walters would
lead "an all-out effort to reduce illegal drug use."

The administration also said that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney
were the first two employees at the White House to take a drug test.
But White House officials declined to say if anyone on Bush's staff
had failed the mandatory test.

Walters, 49, previously worked at the Department of Education, where
he headed the Schools Without Drugs prevention program, and then
served under William J. Bennett, who was drug czar in the
administration of Bush's father.

In his writings, Walters has supported tough prison sentences for
violent felons, marijuana smugglers and repeat offenders, though he
expressed a more lenient attitude toward first-time drug users. In an
article published in March in the Weekly Standard, a magazine with
conservative leanings, he denounced the "therapy-only lobby" in
Washington and declared that prison sentences, combined with therapy,
were a key element to reducing drug use.

Walters served as acting drug policy director briefly in 1993. He quit
in protest when President Bill Clinton sharply reduced the office's
staff and announced that he was redirecting anti-narcotics policy to
focus on hard-core users, while deemphasizing enforcement and
interdiction.

Walters has no shortage of critics. "Anybody can give lip service to
drug prevention and addiction," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive
director of the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, a New York
organization that advocates a focus on therapy instead of punishment.
"But listen to him and he stands out as a bellicose drug warrior."

Nadelmann said that get-tough approaches have "left illicit drugs
cheaper, purer and more available than ever".

Among Walters' defenders is Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health
and human services, who as Wisconsin governor pressed for more money
to treat addiction rather than to build jails. He said Walters was
"much more balanced" in his approach to the drug problem than his
critics acknowledged.

If confirmed by the Senate, Walters would succeed Barry R. McCaffrey,
who sought to reduce confrontations with drug-exporting countries in
Latin America and promoted an advertising campaign to convince
adolescents that drugs could ruin lives.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Andrew