BUSH DRUG CZAR MAKES VISIT TO STATE

Walters Defends Handling Of Meth War

The Bush administration's "war on terror" has come to Alabama
to fight drugs. Bush drug czar John Walters visited Alabama on
Wednesday to assure people the government is doing a good job
fighting the drug war. He compared his agency's efforts to the U.S.
government's efforts to fight al-Qaida.

"We're trying to do to them what we do in terror," Walters said at the
U.S. attorney's office.

Walters, officially director of the White House Office of National
Drug Policy, defended the Bush administration's handling of the
methamphetamine battle, which the Drug Enforcement Administration
called the "biggest drug threat" in the state. Methamphetamine has
leapfrogged cocaine as the most popular drug in Alabama, Walters said.

"We need to take that money out of the system to additionally reduce
demand and to additionally reduce supply," he said.

Walters said other states have had success curbing methamphetamines by
limiting access to everyday chemicals used to make the drug.

"They're making meth like Drew Carey and his friends make beer,"
Walters said, referring to the comedy show where the characters made
beer in their garage.

According to the DEA, there has been "a dramatic increase" in
clandestine labs in rural communities. The number of labs the
government has shut down in Alabama has increased from 30 in 1999 to
289 in 2003.

Limiting the over-the-counter drugs has been successful, Walters
said.

The regional drug enforcement group, made up of agencies across
Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, has been given $6.9 million for
their annual budget. They will get $150,000 per year on top of that as
part of a government grant.

The group of agencies had arrested 18 people and confiscated "million
of dollars" in cash and property during the past year in the region,
said William Trenton Jr., special agent in charge for the Drug
Enforcement Administration in Alabama.