BUSH NAMING CONSERVATIVE TO TOP DRUG POST

President Bush is naming conservative John P. Walters as his drug
policy director and keeping the post in his Cabinet.

Bush was to nominate Walters head of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy in a Rose Garden ceremony Thursday.

Walters is known for his tough approach on drugs. He 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 John J. DiIulio Jr. 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.

Two White House officials said 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 have 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.

White House spokesman Ari 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.

Asked what would constitute a victory, he said: "A reduction in the
number of Americans who abuse drugs, and an increase in the number of
Americans who are successfully treated so they no longer use drugs."