Pubdate: Fri, 20 Apr 2001
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 2001 Associated Press
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/27
Author: Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press Writer

BUSH SET TO NAME WALTERS TO POST

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush (news - web sites) plans to name a 
conservative known for his tough approach on drugs to head the White House 
drug policy office, a government official and others said Friday.

John P. Walters is undergoing final background checks and could be named 
next week to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy, those 
familiar with the nomination said.

Walters had been the office's deputy director for supply reduction when it 
was headed by William Bennett during the administration of former President 
Bush.

Reached by telephone, Walters said he had had discussions with the 
administration, but declined to comment further.

The office has been without a permanent director since Barry McCaffrey 
resigned in January.

Walters has stressed the importance of criminal penalties for drug users 
and opposed the use of marijuana for medical purposes. He has also favored 
the drug certification program, in which nations are judged by their 
anti-drug efforts. The program has been a sore point in U.S.-Mexican relations.

Walters' positions have put him at odds with treatment advocates who view 
drugs as more of a health problem.

"Fear of getting caught (and the public humiliation involved) is what 
casual users themselves say was most responsible for the dramatic reduction 
in casual drug use that occurred in the past seven years," he wrote in 1993.

John Carnevale, a drug policy analyst who worked under both Bennett and 
McCaffrey, said Walters "has an ideology but he's open-minded and welcomes 
new ideas."

Walters is president of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a national donors 
group. He also is a co-author-with Bennett and John J. DiIulio Jr. of the 
book "Body Count: Moral Poverty and How to Win America's War Against Crime 
and Drugs." DiIulio is now the head of the White House Office of Community 
and Faith-Based Initiatives.

The White House has not said if it plans to make the drug policy director's 
position a Cabinet-level post, as it had been while McCaffrey headed the 
office. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have urged Bush to keep it in 
the Cabinet.

The drug policy office oversees more than $19 billion in anti-drug 
programs, working with dozens of agencies.
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