DRUG CZAR DEFENDS ADMINISTRATION

U.S. drug czar John Walters defended President Bush's attempts to
fight the spread of methamphetamine during a stop Wednesday in
Alabama, where the highly addivictive stimulant now is the No. 1 drug
threat.

Responding to criticism earlier this week from Democratic vice
presidential candidate John Edwards, Walters said the government was
trying to both clamp down on the availability of meth ingredients from
manufacturers and to encourage states to limit retail access to common
cold remedies that are used to make meth.

Walters said he was sorry the Democrats didn't know the administration
already was fighting methamphetamine.

"We're in a season when people make a lot of different charges because
of the politics of the time," Walters said in response to a reporter's
question. "The reality is this: The same drug use survey that showed
we had an 11 percent decline in teenage drug use showed we had a 13.5
percent decline in teenage methamphetamine use."

The Drug Enforcement Administration has classified meth as the biggest
drug threat in Alabama, outstripping cocaine and marijuana. Federal,
state and local authorities busted 289 meth laboratories in the state
in 2003, up from just 30 five years ago.

Originally a problem on the West Coast, meth has spread to many areas
of the rural South and Appalachia, where communities are struggling
both to deal with families ripped apart by the drug and to clean up
home labs where meth is made using highly toxic chemicals.

In comments Monday, Edwards called for tighter restrictions on the
sale of nonprescription cold medicines often used to make meth.
Democrats also have proposed tax incentives for family farmers to buy
a form of ammonia that is resistant to meth production, and to help
clean up toxic meth kitchens and educate and treat users.

Walters, a Cabinet member who heads the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, said police "already have the tools" to combat the
drug.

"You don't have to buy locks all over the country" to prevent people
from stealing a type of ammonia used to make methamphetamine, he said.

Walters' comments came during a news conference to announce $150,000
in new federal funding he said would go to a regional program that
fights cocaine and marijuana trafficking.