Pubdate: Fri, 11 May 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Mike Allen, Washington Post Staff Writer

BUSH UNVEILS SHIFT IN DRUG STRATEGY

Stress To Be Placed On Cutting Demand

President Bush plans to expand the nation's drug treatment programs after 
the completion of a four-month-review that he launched yesterday in what 
advocates for the addicted called a landmark step toward addressing a 
chronic shortage of treatment.

The announcement marked a shift in the national drug strategy from an 
emphasis on reducing the supply to a greater effort to cut demand.

Bush spoke during a Rose Garden ceremony to designate John P. Walters as 
the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Bush's 
statement of commitment to treatment salved some opponents of Walters, who 
has been criticized for stressing enforcement and narcotics seizures over 
prevention.

Bush is proposing $245 million more for treatment and treatment research 
next year than is being spent this year -- a 7.7 percent increase -- and 
$1.6 billion more over five years, including money for therapy aimed at 
adolescents and teenagers.

A 1998 federal survey found that 5 million chronic drug users in the 
country needed treatment, while 2.1 million were getting it. Bush said he 
was ordering a four-month, state-by-state review to determine "how to most 
effectively close the treatment gap in this country."

"My administration will continue to work with nations to eradicate drugs at 
their source, and enforce our borders to stop the flow of drugs into 
America," Bush said. "However, the most effective way to reduce the supply 
of drugs in America is to reduce the demand for drugs in America."

Walters, 48, who has been president of the Philanthropy Roundtable, was 
chief of staff and later deputy director of the drug office under 
then-President George H.W. Bush. If confirmed by the Senate, he will become 
a member of Bush's Cabinet. Walters said his goals include helping "the 
addicted find effective treatment and remain in recovery."

"We will shield our communities from the terrible human toll taken by 
illegal drugs," Walters said. "We will stop illegal drug use and the drug 
trade from funding threats to democratic institutions throughout our 
hemisphere."

Retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, who was drug office director from 
1996 through this January, said after reviewing the plans Bush released 
yesterday: "They're putting dollars where their mouth is."

Administration officials said the new money for treatment will be backed by 
enforcement programs that in some cases will throw people in jail if they 
fail to follow court orders for treatment. Drug courts, which can offer 
treatment instead of incarceration and which will be expanded under Bush, 
will carry out the threat through a program known as "coerced abstinence."

"We've got to make sure that those who are hooked on drugs are treated," 
Bush said later, during a speech to an anti-drug group at the Vienna 
Community Center in Fairfax County.

Other parts of what Bush called "a new approach to drug policy" include the 
creation of a Parent Drug Corps, to mobilize parents and families against 
illegal drug use, with funding of $25 million over five years. Bush's 
budget also includes a $41.5 million increase for the National Institute on 
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws issued a 
statement calling Walters a "hard-liner." However, Mitchell S. Rosenthal, 
president of Phoenix House, the nation's largest nonprofit provider of drug 
treatment, called the announcements "very encouraging."

Two simultaneous four-month studies of treatment programs will be carried 
out by Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and Health and Human Services 
Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. Bush said one of his goals is to have 
"drug-free" federal prisons, but officials said no timetable has been set.

John J. DiIulio Jr., director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and 
Community Initiatives, was given 30 days to compile a list of federally 
funded drug programs being carried out in community centers, houses of 
worship and other neighborhood locations. "We certainly think they will 
have a relatively greater role," DiIulio said.

In a second major criminal justice announcement, Bush will unveil a program 
on Monday to hire 113 new federal prosecutors and to provide $75 million to 
state governments in the next year in an effort to ensure tougher sentences 
for felons who are later convicted of fresh gun offenses.

The program, which Bush will announce in Philadelphia with Mayor John F. 
Street (D), will be a national version of Virginia's "Project Exile" and 
other similar initiatives focusing on tougher penalties for gun offenses. 
The president will propose a model program but will not specify an approach 
that each U.S. attorney must take, an official said.

The administration also said that Bush has required White House officials 
to pass a test for drug use, which had likewise been required under 
President Bill Clinton. It said Bush and Vice President Cheney were the 
first to be tested in January, although neither of them is required by law 
to do so. Officials said 650 people were tested as a condition of 
employment, and 127 have been randomly tested since then. A senior 
administration official said no one has failed.
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