A LITTLE DRUG-WAR QUIZ

Most Americans have come to view the nation's escalating,
$20-billion-a-year drug war as a costly failure that is stuffing
prisons while producing few gains. They think our drug policy needs an
overhaul and are open-minded to the possibilities. John P. Walters
does not sound like one of those Americans.

Since serving as a deputy to two anti-drug czars in the first Bush
administration, Walters has been the nation's preeminent champion of
hawkish anti-drug measures, such as sending money to South America for
helicopter gunships to battle drug traffickers. Today he faces a
Senate Judiciary hearing for confirmation to the No. 1 drug policy
job. Here are questions members might ask to clarify some things
Walters has said that seem out of sync with expert and public opinion:

* Given that the average federal sentence for a drug offense is now
twice as long as the average sentence for manslaughter, and that black
men are more than 13 times more likely to be imprisoned for drug
offenses than whites, why did you recently dismiss drug sentencing
disparities and excessively long prison sentences for drug abusers as
two of "the greatest urban myths of our time". * Given that nine
states, including California, have passed laws since 1996 legalizing
the medical use of marijuana, do you still assert that Washington
should aggressively yank prescription privileges from doctors who
recommend medical marijuana to patients.

* Given the raft of recent studies showing that drug treatment is far
more cost-effective than drug interdiction, do you still believe that
drug treatment programs are little more than "the latest manifestation
of the liberals' commitment to a therapeutic state".