PROPOSED DRUG CZAR SUGGESTS TIRED APPROACH

The nation's drug czar nominee seems to have decidedly old ideas that are
not comforting to those who would like to see America fight the drug war by
decreasing demand at home.

President Bush was supposed to be one of those, but his reported selection
of John P. Walters sends an entirely different message about the approach
this administration will take toward the drug fight.

Walters is no stranger to the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy. He served as William Bennett's deputy during the last Bush
administration and then served briefly in the Clinton administration as
acting drug czar. He quit in a huff when the former president announced
changes in the national drug policy to focus on hard-core users with less
emphasis on interdiction and law enforcement.

While the Clinton administration put more money into treatment programs,
much more is needed. Mr. Bush seemed to suggest during the campaign that he
wanted to fight drugs at home by decreasing the demand through treatment.

Yet, as former drug chief Barry McCaffrey noted, Walters' views on drug
treatment are far from satisfactory in that regard. He quoted Walters as
asserting that the United States had too much "treatment capacity." Perhaps
Walters should visit places like the drug court in Nashville where the
results of treatment are good and the need for more spaces even greater.

But even more dangerously, Walters has written that the nations prisons
aren't "too full" and called for stricter federal punishment on marijuana
and for using the military as a major player in interdiction. Even more
disappointing, he, like his predecessors in the Clinton administration,
opposes the use of federal funds for needle exchanges to fight AIDS.

Mr. Bush's delay in finding a new drug czar suggested a lower priority on
the issue. But Walters is a poor selection. If the president doesn't think
a little harder about his choice, the Senate where Walters confirmation
will go should.