DELAY IN DRUG DIRECTOR NOD STIRS TALK

WASHINGTON (AP) -- While the Bush administration proposes $730 million to
stop drugs abroad and promotes character education to help stop them at
home, an important player is missing from the fight: a drug policy director.

Lawmakers from both parties as well as former director Barry McCaffrey are
expressing concern that more than two months into the Bush presidency, no
one has been nominated to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Some Democrats say it is a sign that Bush is not making drugs a priority.
Republicans say the delay reflects the careful search for a director. One
GOP lawmaker said the administration has had a hard time filling the slot.

The White House says it is pushing ahead with the drug fight under the
acting director, Edward Jurith, but McCaffrey said the office urgently
needs a Bush appointee with political clout.

The drug policy office coordinates the work of dozens of agencies and
oversees more than $19 billion in anti-drug programs.

Without the leadership of an influential director, the office has been left
without a voice as the agencies prepare the budgets, McCaffrey said.

"It's bad," he said. "There's nothing happening. They're out of the game."

In a separate matter, a study funded by the drug policy office and released
Thursday found drug prevention efforts are hampered by a lack of
information about their effectiveness.

The study by National Research Council said less than 1 percent of the
money spent on drug enforcement is allocated to research. It recommended
that work begin to find better ways of acquiring reliable data on drug
consumption and the costs of illegal drugs.

The council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, is an independent
organization that advises the government.

One of the most outspoken Republicans on drug issues, Rep. John Mica, said
Bush has had difficulties finding a suitable candidate to head the drug
policy office.

Mica, R-Fla., said he spoke with Bush last week and the president
"expressed dismay in not being able to have someone accept at this stage."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said no one has been offered the job,
though several candidates have been interviewed.

Among the names mentioned as possible candidates are former Rep. Bill
McCollum, R-Fla.; Florida drug policy coordinator James McDonough; Boise,
Idaho, Mayor Brent Coles; and Rick Romley, the county attorney in Maricopa
County, Ariz.

Some Republicans say the timing of the appointment is not particularly
late, noting that President Clinton took three months to name his first
director, Lee Brown. And some say the wait is necessary to choose the right
person.

"Although I would like to have someone in place, I like the fact that they
are taking their time and trying to find the right person," said Rep. Rob
Portman, R-Ohio.

McClellan said Bush has made drugs a priority, addressing the problem by
promoting character education in schools, seeking to strengthen border
controls in the Southwest and working with Mexico to stop trafficking.

Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the administration will propose
$730 million in counterdrug aid for the Andean region as a follow-up to
last year's $1.3 billion Colombian aid package.

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said he finds it puzzling that Bush chose Mexico
for his first foreign trip and had President Andres Pastrana of Colombia as
one of his first foreign visitors, "yet he hasn't even talked about the
idea of who the drug czar will be."

Colombia is the biggest producer of cocaine; Mexico is the main transit
country for drugs entering the United States.

Biden, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the
administration appears to be keeping drugs low profile so it will not be
held accountable if its policies do not work.

"It seems to me that we're going into another era of benign neglect on this
subject," he said.

Biden, who helped create the drug policy position in the 1980s, said he is
also concerned about expectations that the director will not be in the
Cabinet, as McCaffrey had been.

He said that will leave director with little power to fight budget battles.
"You can't have a sub-Cabinet officer in effect overruling a Cabinet officer."

The White House has not said if the director will be in the Cabinet, but
some Republicans are also concerned. Mica was among six Republican
congressmen who wrote Bush in January urging that the director remain in
the Cabinet.

"Downgrading the drug czar position would send a confusing message to our
nation's young people and a troubling message to our international allies
in our fight against drugs," they said.