WALTERS NAMED DRUG POLICY CHIEF

WASHINGTON - Trying to bring renewed vigor to the war on drugs, President
Bush on Thursday named veteran anti-drug activist John P. Walters as his
drug policy director and pledged to pay "unprecedented attention" to
helping addicted Americans get treatment.

Bush announced his selection of Walters to head the Office of National Drug
Control Policy in a Rose Garden ceremony, and said he would keep the post
Cabinet-level. He also announced a series of Cabinet reviews to determine
the effectiveness of current federal anti-drug efforts, and categorically
rejected the idea of legalizing drugs.

"The only human and compassionate response to drug use is a moral refusal
to accept it," Bush said. "Drug legalization would be a social catastrophe.
... [It] would completely undermine the message that drug use is wrong."

Walters, known for his tough approach on drugs, said he hopes to "shield
our communities from the terrible human toll taken by drug use," starting
by focusing on the problem of addiction.

"Our country has made great progress in the past in reducing drug use, and
we will do it again," Walters said.

Bush directed John DiIulio Jr., who spearheads the White House effort to
open federal programs to religious community groups, to review existing
federal partnerships with local organizations that do anti-drug work. He
asked Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to do a
state-by-state evaluation of current treatment needs, and Attorney General
John Ashcroft to look into making prisons drug-free, including expanded
drug testing of those on parole or probation.

"The president believes to do the job right it has to be multifaceted, it
has to focus on both supply and demand," said White House spokesman Ari
Fleischer.

Fleischer said 650 White House employees, including Bush and Vice President
Dick Cheney, were drug-tested in the first week after inauguration as a
condition of employment. Since then, 127 White House staffers have been
randomly tested and "there are no problems," Fleischer said. A senior
administration official said no one has failed.

Any drug use discovered would be handled on a case-by-case basis to
determine if it's "some type of casual usage or more serious problem,"
Fleischer said. Users could be fired or simply given a letter of reprimand
and allowed to continue to work in the White House, he said.

The spokesman said Bush relied on "the power of faith" when he quit
drinking and might refer to that experience when he talks about drug
addiction in the future.

Walters was the office's deputy director for supply reduction when it was
headed by William Bennett during the administration of former President Bush.

Walters has stressed the importance of criminal penalties for drug users
and opposed the use of marijuana for medical purposes. He also has favored
the drug certification program, in which nations are judged by their
anti-drug efforts. The program has been a sore point in U.S.-Mexican relations.

Walters is president of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a national donors
group. He also is a co-author with Bennett and DiIulio of the book "Body
Count: Moral Poverty and How to Win America's War Against Crime and Drugs."
DiIulio is now the head of the White House Office of Community and
Faith-Based Initiatives.

Bush plans to make the drug policy director's position a Cabinet-level
post, as it had been while Barry McCaffrey headed the office under former
President Clinton. Democratic and Republican lawmakers had urged Bush to
keep it in the Cabinet.

The office has been without a permanent director since McCaffrey resigned
in January.

The drug policy office oversees more than $19 billion in anti-drug
programs, working with dozens of agencies.

Fleischer said Wednesday that there are 5 million "hard-core" drug abusers
in the United States.

"The president is committed to fighting the war on drugs," Fleischer said.