BUSH'S DRUG CZAR CHOICE IS BAFFLING

President Bush's drug czar nominee once told Congress that it should yank
all prescription privileges from doctors who recommend medial marijuana for
their patients. Last week's Supreme Court ruling, barring doctors from
prescribing medical marijuana, would give him authority to act on his
convictions.

We can only hope that John P. Walters has become less extreme since he
voiced his hard-line views to Congress in 1996, when he was a Republican
drug policy consultant.

Bush's decision to appoint Walters to the nation's top anti-drug post is
baffling given the president's clear understanding that the nation's drug
problem can best be solved by reducing demand at home, not by eradicating
supply from abroad.

In recent years, Walters has rallied more loudly than anyone in Washington
against drug treatment programs. As a deputy to drug czars William J.
Bennett and Bob Martinez from 1989 to 1993, Walters became known for his
preoccupation with drug seizures, military aid and other national security
dimensions of drug policy.

Perhaps now that he will be in charge of a $19 billion budget, Walters will
moderate his convictions. California physicians who recommend medical
marijuana to nauseated, emaciated cancer patients should not have to fear
that federal agents will bust down their doors.