DEA CHIEF WILL BE TOUGH ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Washington -- The new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration said
yesterday that he would enforce the federal ban on medical marijuana, wants
to improve the accountability of paid confidential informants and intends
to increase technology used in the war on drugs.

Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman from Arkansas, said he
wants to "send the right signal" on medical marijuana. Federal law
prohibits the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

But several states, including California and Oregon, allow people to grow
it, dispense it and use it without fear of prosecution, which is considered
a federal responsibility under a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

"Currently, it's a violation of federal law," Hutchinson told reporters,
who had gathered at DEA headquarters in Arlington for his swearing-in
ceremony. "The question is how you address that from an enforcement standpoint.

"You're not going to tolerate a violation of the law, but at the same time
there are a lot of different relationships . . . a lot of different aspects
that we have to consider as we develop that enforcement policy."

Hutchinson, 50, a former federal prosecutor, takes over a federal agency
with 9,000 employees and a $1.5 billion budget.

As a congressman, he was a conservative who supported local drug courts,
which offer alternatives to prison. He won the support of Republicans and
Democrats during his confirmation hearings last month.

Hutchinson was a House manager during the Senate impeachment trial of
President Bill Clinton and was considered this year as a possible deputy
attorney general. But ties to his alma mater, Bob Jones University, hurt
his chances. The school, which awarded Hutchinson a bachelor's degree in
1972 and an honorary law degree in 1999, prohibited interracial dating
until March 2000.

Hutchinson said that he wants to improve relationships with international
law enforcement agencies to curb drug smuggling, and was encouraged by a
decline in the use of cocaine in the United States.

Cocaine use has decreased 75 percent in the last 15 years, he said.