BUSH OFFICIAL TALKS ABOUT WAR ON DRUGS AT SYRACUSE U

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Oscar-nominated film "Traffic" dramatically depicted
the problems with the government's war on drugs, but failed to bring home
the golden statuette.

The Bush administration hopes its new drug plan will also win accolades
from the American public.

"We are going to pursue traffickers as criminals and provide alternatives
to individuals, especially at the lower end of the drug trade," said Rand
Beers, assistant secretary for international narcotic and law enforcement
affairs.

Beers spoke to about 100 people Tuesday in Syracuse University's Eggers
Hall about the Bush administration's policy on drugs. The Maxwell School of
Citizenship and Public Affairs and Administration Global Affairs Institute
sponsored the lecture.

As assistant secretary, Beers advises President George W. Bush and
Secretary of State Colin Powell on the development of policies and programs
to combat international narcotics and crime.

"I was surprised," said Jessica Ellis, a junior advertising major. "He said
his policy was largely for prevention. I anticipated another war on drugs
like when Bush's father (George) Bush and (Ronald) Reagan were in office. I
was all ready for a crackdown of that nature, but it didn't seem to be the
case."

Beers said half the drug budget will now go to prevention, a large increase
from previous policies of the Clinton and the elder Bush administrations
that focused more on short-term solutions. The new drug budget has not yet
been released, he added.

"Its a vicious cycle," said Jennifer Stevens, an international relations
graduate student. "The change in the budget is very important."

George W. Bush, the only president in history to have a master's degree in
business administration, has introduced a business-oriented approach to
reducing demand for drugs. Beers said if a policy does not work, then they
will try something else.

"No supply reduction will succeed without its companion -- demand
reduction," Beers said. "I don't know if demand reduction will ever fail.
It's never received enough funding. There's never enough funding for
treatment, education or prevention. If the money's there, success will be
there."

The recent rise in the abuse of designer drugs such as ecstasy is also a
cause for concern in the administration, he said.

"We don't know a lot about these drugs yet," Beers said. "We need to know
the effects on individuals so we can give these people real facts, not just
simplistic scare information. We really have to get a handle on these drugs."

But stopping the drug trade at an international level is still a high
priority, Beers said.

Nations in the Western Hemisphere are sharing more of the responsibility
for the drug trade, he said. Countries have begun a program to rate each
other on their effectiveness of stopping illegal drug traffic and give
suggestions on how to better their attempts.

The United States is also involved in dealing with corruption in the
Mexican government, Russian organized crime and American law enforcement.

"I have no doubt that there is corruption within the United States," Beers
said. "I don't think there is serious organized high-level corruption. I
have seen no evidence of it. It is certainly true that some highly placed
corrupt officials have existed in the United States."

He proposed plans to give poor farmers in drug-producing countries, such as
Colombia, alternatives to growing coca, which is used to make cocaine, and
opium poppy, which can be made into heroin.

Beers said the lawlessness of countries burdened with unstable government
and mired in civil war also contributes to the problems.

"There has to be a process to restore that government to a rule of law,"
Beers said.

He called for more United Nations civilian police to serve as law
enforcement in these areas until they could install their own police force.

Beers said the plan has the opportunity to significantly reduce the drug
problem in the United States.

"It's not going to happen overnight," he said. "It's going to happen over
time."