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| Two Voices on Bush Drug Policy |
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Posted by FoM on May 18, 2001 at 16:17:12 PT By Bill Straub, Scripps Howard News Service Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel 
When President Bush ventured to Virginia recently for a firsthand look at a successful drug-prevention program, he made it clear that the most important facet of his administration's war on illegal narcotics would be to reduce demand."The best way to impact supply of drugs coming into America is to convince our fellow citizens not to use drugs in the first place,'' Bush told appreciative parents and teens gathered at the Vienna Community Center in the Washington suburbs. Bush pledged to double the amount of money spent on the federal government's drug-free communities program over the next five years as "part of achieving the goal of reducing the demand for drugs in America.'' While Bush has emphasized the need to reduce demand through education programs and drug-abuse treatment, his public action on the consistently vexing issue has produced mixed signals, indicating the administration intends to focus more on the punishment and foreign interdiction end than had originally been supposed. To direct the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bush has tapped Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., a former federal prosecutor who earned a reputation for being particularly tough on drug cases. But the nomination that really raised eyebrows was the president's choice of John Walters to become the high-profile director of the White House Office of National Drug Policy - the drug czar. Walters, who served as the top aide to William Bennett, the nation's first drug czar, in the late 1980s, has been a vocal critic of drug-treatment programs, saying "there is too much treatment capacity in the U.S.'' He has chided those who advocate increased spending on drug treatment as "the last manifestation of liberals' commitment to a therapeutic state in which government serves as the agent of personal rehabilitation.'' During his tenure as Bennett's lieutenant, Walters concentrated on reducing the supply rather than the demand side of the drug equation. He was a vocal supporter of U.S. interdiction in Latin America to cut off drug supply lines and providing military aid to countries looking to cut off the cultivation and manufacture of illicit substances. Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of The Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation, a New York think tank that focuses on drug issues, said Walters is likely to support "scaling back the government's already modest commitment to treatment.'' "Walters stands for the proposition that drug policy has nothing to do with facts, science or public health,'' Nadelmann said. "It's all about punishment to him.'' Walters' public positions, Nadelmann and other critics maintain, seem to run counter to Bush's expressed desire "to make sure that those who are hooked on drugs are treated.'' "We've got people that know no other life than drugs,'' Bush said. "And a compassionate society is one that does something about drug people who are addicted. And we're going to do so.'' Walters, whose nomination must be confirmed by the Senate, said he will follow the president's lead. "We will help the addicted find effective treatment and remain in recovery,'' he said. "We will shield our communities from the terrible human toll taken by illegal drugs.'' Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN) Related Articles & Web Site: TLC - DPF Change of Tune on Drug Policy? Bush's Drug Two-Faced Drug War An Unwinnable War on Drugs President Names Congressman To Drug Agency Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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