Pubdate: Wed, 29 May 2002
Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Copyright: 2002, Denver Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.rockymountainnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371
Author: Brian Bandell, Associated Press Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

DRUG CZAR NOTES DECLINE IN FLORIDA AND CARIBBEAN DRUG SMUGGLING

MIAMI- Drug smuggling in Florida and the Caribbean is down compared with 
smuggling in Mexico and the Pacific, the nation's drug czar said Wednesday.

John P. Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy, said increased 
enforcement efforts in Florida and the Caribbean have caused the shift of 
smuggling to the Southwest. He said Florida still has a major role in the 
import of drugs.

Walters, who took office in December, visited U.S. Customs at the Miami 
Seaport and the Miami-Dade County Juvenile Assessment Center on Wednesday.

About 2,400 pounds a month of cocaine, heroin and other drugs have been 
seized at the Seaport this year, a decline from the 3,830 pounds a month 
seized last year. U.S. Customs Port Director Thomas Winkowski said that the 
Seaport, with its upgraded technology to screen for drugs, is among the 
most well-equipped ports in the country.

Walters estimates that around 30 percent of the cocaine shipped from South 
America is seized before it enters the country.

"We're making it harder (to smuggle drugs). We're increasing the cost of 
doing business," Walters said.

Florida, with so many miles of beaches and ports of entry, is a hard place 
to protect from drug shipments.

"The key is intelligence and gaining knowledge of how these organizations 
operate, because if we're going to allow legal commerce and legal passage 
of people, we can't stop everyone," Walters said.

Walters' office started an advertising campaign linking drug use with 
terrorism. He said that 12 out of the 25 groups that the State Department 
lists as terrorist organizations also traffic drugs.

"Drug use in the U.S. is the single biggest source of terror to the 
democratic forces in this hemisphere," Walters said.

Drug money funds terrorism, helping the rebels in Colombia as well as 
al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Walters said. He said the United States needs to 
support newly elected Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's efforts to combat 
rebels by funding anti-terror efforts and training Colombian soldiers.

President Bush has set a goal of a 10 percent reduction in drug use over 
the next two years and a 25 percent reduction in the next five years. 
Walters said his office can meet this target by improving treatment and 
awareness programs for young people and strengthening law enforcement.

"While (the reduction goal) is certainly ambitious, it's consistent with 
the declines we've seen in the late '80s and early '90s," Walters said. 
"We've done it with effective prevention efforts that've focused on young 
people. We know that drug use starts with teen-agers."

President Bush has committed $1.6 billion to treatment programs over the 
next five years, Walters said. He said that treatment programs in schools, 
work places, families and religious institutions that pressure people to 
not abuse drugs can be effective.

An advocate group is pushing a ballot proposition in Florida in 2004 that 
would allow first-time drug offenders to go into treatment programs rather 
than prison. Walters said he opposes this proposition, as does Gov. Jeb 
Bush, because he believe it will ruin the state's drug court system.

He said Florida is a leader in the use of drug courts and diversion programs.

"If the premise of these proposals is that Florida or other states aren't 
moving in the direction of sorting (serious from non-serious offenders), 
that's a false premise," Walters said. "Some of the advocates say that the 
jails are full of low-level nonviolent offenders. That's a lie."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom