DRUG CZAR STRESSES LOCAL DRUG-FIGHTING PROGRAMS

Flanked by local politicians, law enforcement and drug treatment
program officials at the federal courthouse, White House drug czar
John P. Walters said Wednesday in Sacramento that the U.S. government
must become a more effective part of local drug prevention and
treatment programs.

"If we stress prevention, if we can stop young people before they
start," Walters said, "we can change the face of substance abuse
problems in the country for generations to come."

Walters, whose official title is director of the Office of National
Drug Control Policy, was in Sacramento as part of a 25-city tour
designed to tout the development of federal-local drug-fighting
programs that emphasize prevention and treatment as well as arrests
and prosecutions.

"The old days of law enforcement acting in a vacuum in trying to
address the drug problems in this nation are over," said McGregor
Scott, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, which
includes the Sacramento area. "We are now collectively and
collaboratively working with prevention professionals and treatment
professionals to establish a tripartite approach."

In his proposed budget for the 2005 fiscal year, President Bush has
asked for $200 million in additional funds for drug treatment, as well
as more money for confidential drug-testing programs at schools.
Walters said that about 45 percent of all drug-related funds in the
budget are for treatment and prevention.

Among the efforts to be pushed locally are establishment of a Juvenile
Drug Court, where youth with drug-related offenses would be diverted
into treatment programs; development of a one-stop center to connect
those seeking treatment with all of the programs available in the
community, and better public anti-drug education programs.