Pubdate: Mon, 05 Mar 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
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Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Al Kamen, with Ben White and Thomas B. Edsall

SEARCHING FOR A DRUG CZAR

Still no word on a Bush drug czar (officially director of the Office 
of National Drug Control Policy), but the White House is working hard 
on it. For example, Maricopa County (Ariz.) Attorney Rick Romley is 
said to have met the week before last with White House officials for 
about 90 minutes.

Though not a household name, Romley is known in drug control circles 
for aggressively prosecuting methamphetamine lab operators and for 
pushing first-time, nonviolent drug users away from criminal trials 
and into court-supervised treatment programs.

The drug czar short list also apparently still includes, among 
others, former representative Bill McCollum (R-Fla.); Florida drug 
control policy director James McDonough, who also served as strategy 
chief for Clinton drug czar Barry McCaffrey; Family Research Council 
vice president Robert Maginnis; and Brent Coles, mayor of Boise, 
Idaho.
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