Pubdate: Mon, 14 May 2001
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Section: USA; Page 2
Copyright: 2001 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Contact:  http://www.csmonitor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/83
Author: Alexandra Marks, Staff Writer

BUSH'S DOUBLE MESSAGE ON THE DRUG WAR

He's Advocating Treatment And Prevention, But Has Nominated A Drug Czar 
Known For His Tough Approach

John Walters will have a delicate line to walk.

As President Bush's new nominee for drug czar, Mr. Walters is known as a 
"get tough" drug warrior - a champion of the war on drugs, including its 
aggressive interdiction efforts and long mandatory sentences for drug 
offenders.

Yet he's arriving on the national scene as harder questions are being asked 
about the effectiveness of that "war" and its toll on communities - from 
over-burdened prison systems that are draining state budgets to easy 
accessibility of drugs that are even cheaper and purer than a decade ago.

In an acknowledgment of such concerns, Mr. Bush himself focused on the need 
to increase treatment and prevention as he announced Walters's nomination 
last Thursday. In pledging an "unprecedented" and "unwavering commitment" 
to reduce drug use in America, he didn't even mention the word "war," 
making him the first chief executive since President Richard Nixon to omit 
the bellicose term in a major speech on drug policy.

Walters, however, has long been a critic of some of the very strategies the 
president is advocating. It seems the Bush administration is sending a 
double message, trying to appease both drug-war advocates, with Walters's 
appointment, and drug-war opponents.

So far, many drug experts have said they're heartened by Bush's statements 
but are taking a wait-and-see approach. Their caution is due primarily to 
Walters's own history and statements, which could prove to be his biggest 
stumbling blocks when he goes before the Senate for confirmation hearings.

"He has to deal with his own statements, congressional testimony, and 
articles," says former drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey."[Walters] did 
essentially say we had more than enough drug-treatment capacity now and 
expressed great skepticism about whether it really works ... and seemed to 
make fun of it. When, in fact, we know that science-based treatment does work."

Controversial Politics

Walters headed up interdiction efforts under William Bennett, who served as 
drug czar in the previous Bush administration.In the early 1990s, Walters 
co-authored a book predicting that inner cities would produce a new kind of 
"super predator" teen criminal.Instead, the teenage crime rate has steadily 
decreased. And in a recent piece in the Weekly Standard, a conservative 
political magazine, he bemoaned the new "war on punishment and prisons" and 
attacked drug-war critics as the "therapy-only lobby."

"If it weren't for the ideology associated with treatment - addiction is a 
disease, not a pattern of behavior for which people can be held responsible 
- - law enforcement and punishment would be natural partners of the treatment 
providers," Walters wrote.

But critics were particularly infuriated by Walters's description of the 
"great urban myths of our time," which include the "widely held view that 
(1) we are imprisoning too many people for merely possessing illegal drugs, 
(2) drug and other criminal sentences are too long and harsh, and (3) the 
criminal-justice system is unjustly punishing young black men."

"Those are not myths," says Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of The 
Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation, a drug-policy-reform organization 
in New York. "Those are the facts of the drug war, and it's sad Walters 
can't distinguish between them."

Wrong Priorities?

Many drug-policy experts are also skeptical about Walters's stance on 
international interdiction efforts. He supports the efforts, which critics 
say have been shown to be ineffective. About 70 percent of the $ 19 billion 
spent annually to combat drug use currently goes toward interdiction 
efforts, and 30 percent goes to treatment and prevention efforts.

"The evidence is clear that closing down cocaine and heroin production in 
one place simply opens it up in another place," says David Rosenbloom of 
Boston University's School of Public Health. "I think Walters needs to be 
asked what's going to dominate - his personal beliefs or the evidence."

Even supporters of US interdiction efforts in Latin America say Walters 
needs to work on improving his public image in order to gain credibility.

"A combative approach can be compatible with being effective, but it can be 
extremely counterproductive if you're not viewed as reasonable, balanced, 
and wise," says Jonathan Winer, a former top official involved in the State 
Department's antidrug efforts. "Walters's ability to be effective in this 
job is not being facilitated by the reputation he enters the position with 
of being a hard-nosed tough guy."

A Changing Drug Policy

Walters's appointment aside, many experts believe that a shift is under way 
in the nation's drug policy. They point to the increases Bush has asked for 
in the drug-treatment and prevention budgets, as well as his request for a 
state-by-state analysis to determine if the nation has enough treatment 
capacity.

"President Bush really focused on demand reduction in an unprecedented 
way," says Joseph Califano, former Health and Human Services secretary 
under President Jimmy Carter and director of the National Center on 
Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University here. "Remember, 
Walters is a member of the White House staff. He's going to do what the 
president tells him to do, and the president was loud and clear."
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