SEARCHING FOR A DRUG CZAR

Still no word on a Bush drug czar (officially director of the Office
of National Drug Control Policy), but the White House is working hard
on it. For example, Maricopa County (Ariz.) Attorney Rick Romley is
said to have met the week before last with White House officials for
about 90 minutes.

Though not a household name, Romley is known in drug control circles
for aggressively prosecuting methamphetamine lab operators and for
pushing first-time, nonviolent drug users away from criminal trials
and into court-supervised treatment programs.

The drug czar short list also apparently still includes, among
others, former representative Bill McCollum (R-Fla.); Florida drug
control policy director James McDonough, who also served as strategy
chief for Clinton drug czar Barry McCaffrey; Family Research Council
vice president Robert Maginnis; and Brent Coles, mayor of Boise,
Idaho.