BUSH TALKS OF CHANGE, TAPS TOUGH DRUG CZAR

President Bush vowed Thursday to reduce the demand for illegal drugs
through more treatment programs, increasing parental involvement and
cracking down on drugs in prison.

But he named John Walters, a tough anti-drug veteran, to head his
White House drug control policy office, leading critics to say the
administration's war on drugs will focus more assets on attacking
suppliers.

"The most effective way to reduce the supply of drugs in America is
to reduce the demand for drugs in America," Bush said as he announced
new treatment initiatives. That came after Bush named Walters as drug
czar in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Recent polls have shown Americans are sharply divided on whether the
war on drugs is winnable, whether users should be imprisoned and
whether treatment for users or law enforcement is a better use of
federal drug expenditures.

Reaction to Walters' appointment reflected that national split.

For Republicans in Congress such as Rep. Ben Gilman, R-N.Y., a strong
backer of eradicating drugs in source countries, Walters was a
perfect pick.

"The selection of John Walters ... truly reflects the president's
national commitment to effectively fighting the drug epidemic,"
Gilman said.

But those who favor decriminalizing some drug use, reducing mandatory
minimum sentences against users and other changes in the way the
United States fights drugs were critical of Walters.

"We had hopes of a new approach from President Bush," said Keith
Stroup, executive director of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Law. "Instead we get in Walters one of the
harshest, most extreme of the old drug warriors."

And Timothy Lynch of the libertarian Cato Institute, which supports
decriminalization of drug use, said, "The public is ready for a
change in direction on drug policy, but Bush and Walters are going to
press ahead with more prison construction and more arrests."

Walters has backed criminal penalties for drug users and strongly
opposed initiatives on the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

And he has been in favor of the controversial drug certification
program in which nations like Colombia and Peru are evaluated on
their anti-drug efforts and must be approved to get U.S. aid.

In a recent opinion piece published in the Weekly Standard magazine,
Walters said the idea that drug penalties are too harsh, and that
young black males are being unfairly punished for drug use are,
"among the great urban myths of our time."

Walters, who is now president of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a
national donors organization, co-wrote a book with John DiIulio, head
of Bush's Office of Community and Faith-Based Initiatives, and former
drug czar Bill Bennett.

That book, Body Count: Moral Poverty and How to Win America's War
Against Crime and Drugs, stressed the use of faith-based programs to
help drug addicts.

On Wednesday, Bush appointed another conservative to a key anti-drug
post, naming Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., to head the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Hutchinson was a strong supporter of drug eradication while serving
on the House Judiciary Committee. Before his election in 1996, he was
a prosecutor in Arkansas and once secured a cocaine conviction of
former President Clinton's half-brother Roger.

For liberals, the choice of Walters -- coming on the heels of
Hutchinson's selection at DEA and the earlier pick of conservative
John Ashcroft as attorney general -- shows that Bush will not be very
receptive to reforms.

In talking about treatment while appointing people with records of
being tough on drug criminals, Bush hoped to connect with Americans
who generally oppose drugs but are not sure draconian measures
against users are effective, experts said.

"What the appointments indicate is that the administration will
quietly prosecute the drug war while using rhetoric to downplay the
impact of their get-tough stance," said William McColl, a spokesman
for the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, a group that argues
that drug laws are ineffective.

Bush proposed Thursday spending an additional $100 million next year
on drug treatment, compared with the $19 billion total the United
States spends annually on drug efforts.

Bush, who during the campaign refused to say whether he did drugs as
a young man, said that he opposed any legalization of drugs.

He said that he wants to create a parent drug corps to educate
parents on how to talk to their children about drugs.

He said, "Children cite parents as the number one reason they don't use drugs."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declined to say whether the
president had talked to his two college-age daughters about drugs and
drinking. One of his daughters, Jenna, a freshman at the University
of Texas, was recently cited by Austin police for underage drinking.

When asked if Jenna Bush's citation was an example of how parents
aren't always able to influence their children's behavior, Fleischer
bristled and said:

"No, I think, frankly there are some issues where I think it is very
important for you all in the press corps to recognize that he is the
president of the United States; he's also a father. And the press
corps has been very respectful in the past of treating family matters
with privacy."

Administration officials said that all 650 White House employees were
tested for drugs. According to Fleischer, the first two tested were
Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Any White House employee who
tested positive for drugs could be directed to counseling and
treatment depending on the severity of the problem, Fleischer said.