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FEDERAL ANTI-DRUG MONEY WON'T BE DIVERTED

An effort to divert federal anti-drug money from local police in states with medical marijuana laws was thwarted this week by a House committee, which also curtailed other proposed expansions of the White House drug czar's power.

The House Government Reform Committee on Thursday sliced several key provisions out of the bill - carried by House Republicans and backed by the Bush administration - reauthorizing the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for the next five years.  The bill still needs approval by the full House and by the Senate.

One excised section would have affected the nation's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas ( HIDTAs ), of which Northern California is one.  The section had said that in states with medical marijuana laws, some HIDTA funding would be moved away from local and state law enforcement and given instead to federal agents.

San Mateo County Sheriff Don Horsley, who chairs the Northern California HIDTA's executive committee, and San Jose Police Chief William Lansdowne, an executive committee member, were among law enforcement officials who decried the proposal as misguided.  Methamphetamine and other drugs pose the biggest threat, not marijuana, they said.

Another controversial section of the bill that was dropped by the committee would have let White House drug czar John Walters spend taxpayer dollars to create and air advertisements opposing drug reform initiatives and campaigns across the nation.

"The Government Reform Committee took a step forward towards reducing the collateral damage of the War on Drugs to students and taxpayers, but much more needs to be done,'' said Bill Piper, associate director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance.  "The ban on giving financial aid to anyone convicted of a drug offense needs to be fully repealed and Congress needs to put stricter limits on the drug czar's ability to campaign and lobby on the taxpayer dime.''