President picks conservative drug czar

Social justice news
June 2001

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President picks conservatve drug czar, calls for liberal policies
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President picks conservative drug czar,
calls for liberal policies
In a May 10 Rose Garden ceremony President Bush promised to pay "unprecedented attention" to the demand side of the nation's drug problem. His efforts will include a "state-by-state inventory of treatment needs and capacity" to "close the treatment gap in this country" and $1.6 billion for treatment over the next five years, he said. But some argue Bush's seemign interest in seeking new, treatment-based solutions to the nation's drug problem is contradicted by his nomination of John Walters as director of National Drug Control Policy.

Policy analysts call Walters, Bush's pick for the country's new "drug czar," a classic conservative. Walters favors tough penalties for drug users; efforts to cut the supply of drugs; and family-, community-, and faith-based initiatives to lower demand.

"Walters stands for the proposition that drug policy has nothing to do with facts, science or public health," says Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Lindesmith Center, a drug policy reform group. "It's all about punishment to him."

Walters, whom the Senate must confirm, has been a vocal critic of treatment-only programs for addicts, arguing prison sentences are crucial in the fight against drug use. In March the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard published an article in which Walters denounced what he called three great "urban myths": that too many people end up in prison merely for possession of drugs, that drug sentences are too harsh, and that the American criminal justice system disproportionately punishes young African American men.

His drug war philosophy has been shaped by a long involvement in U.S. policy efforts. Walters served as deputy and chief of staff to the first national drug czar, William Bennet, during Bush's father's administration. He was also acting drug policy director in 1993, but quit when President Clinton cut his staff and announced a shift away from enforcement and interdiction. He is now president of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a charity donor's organization.

While Walter's critics are numerous, so are his supporters. Betty Sembler, founder of the drug prevention and anti-legalization organization Drug Free America Foundation, calls Walters "a man who cares passionately about reducing drug use." Sembler says, "Groups like ours have worked hard to reduce the injury, illness, and death caused by drug use, but until now, have lacked the leadership and support of the White House."

As he nominated Walters, President Bush also appeared to attack Clinton administration attempts to reduce drug use. "From the early 1980s until the early 1990s, drug use amongst high school seniors was reduced every year," he said. "We had made tremendous strides in cutting drug use. This cannot be said today. We must do, and we will do, a better job."

Despite his critics, Bush thinks Walters is the man to do that job. "A successful antidrug effort depends on a thoughtful and integrated approach," he said at the Rose Garden ceremony. "Mr. Walters understands this as well as anybody in America."

How Walters will integrate his tough-on-crime mentality and Bush's plans for treatment and demand-reduction programs remains to be seen.—Anne Graber

More info:
Office of National Drug Control Policy
The Lindesmith Center
Drug Free America Foundation
The Philanthropy Roundtable

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