BUSH RECORD SHOWS TOUGH STANCE ON DRUGS

He Increased Penalties, Cut Treatment In Prisons

AUSTIN Whatever did or didn't happen in his youth, George W. Bush's most
recent history with drugs has been to stiffen punishments and lock up more
people who use or sell them.

As Texas governor, Mr. Bush has slashed prison drug-treatment programs,
increased criminal penalties and placed hardships - such as losing welfare
benefits or driver's licenses - upon those who abuse illegal drugs.
Although some GOP opponents say he should come clean about whether he ever
committed a felony by using cocaine, supporters say his record on drugs is
strong and clear.

"His message is that when you commit a crime, there'll be a punishment,"
spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said Friday.

"He also thinks it's very important that we all - leaders, parents alike -
send a strong message to our children that you should not do drugs," she said.

After first refusing to answer questions about whether he used drugs, the
53-year-old Texas governor said Thursday that he had not used drugs in the
past 25 years.

He won't say what happened before that, saying only that he has made
mistakes in his past and has learned from them.

When he ran against incumbent Ann Richards in 1994, he never challenged her
when she refused to answer whether she had used illegal drugs. But he did
criticize some of her stances on drug abuse.

Ms. Richards, a Democrat, had been presiding over the largest prison
building program in the nation, adding about 75,000 beds.

With the growth, Ms. Richards championed rehabilitation programs, saying
crime would only continue unless one of its root causes - drug and alcohol
addiction - was addressed.

She added treatment slots for 12,000 inmates at a cost of $380 million.

During the campaign, Mr. Bush assailed the program as costly and unproven.
"Incarceration is rehabilitation," he said at the time.

When Mr. Bush assumed office, he cut the program by more than half - to
5,800 beds and a two-year budget of $188 million.

Democratic consultant Ed Martin said that curtailing drug treatment for
inmates "was a shame."

"One of the differences in policies between the two has been the treatment
of people in prison," he said.

Mr. Martin said the philosophies probably sprang from the personal
experiences of both governors. Both have publicly acknowledged a problem
with alcohol, for which Ms. Richards sought treatment and Mr. Bush quit on
his own.

During the Richards administration, state crime laws were also rewritten to
harden penalties for violent criminals. To make room for the thousands
serving longer sentences, some drug penalties were modified.

Mr. Bush lambasted Ms. Richards for signing that law, which provided
automatic probation for possessing less than 1 gram of hard drugs. The
probation carried up to three months in prison but did not increase for
repeat offenders.

Repeatedly, Mr. Bush took his challenger to task for approving "a penal
code that provides automatic probation for many drug dealers."

During his term, the prison punishment for less than 1 gram was increased
to 180 days, repeat offenders were given increasingly stiff penalties and
the "automatic probation" language was repealed. Judges can still grant
probation to first-time offenders.

Other drug-law changes during Mr. Bush's tenure include enhanced penalties
for possessing drugs in a school zone, making that a felony in all cases.

During his first four years in office, the number of inmates in prison on
drug offenses jumped from 17,087 to 28,636, according to the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice.

Much of the increase is linked to prison growth - the number of beds jumped
from almost 80,000 to 132,000 during his first term.

Almost one-in-four inmates are in prison for drug abuse, up from the about
one-in-six during the Richards administration.

Mr. Bush has also approved laws that allow driver's licenses, welfare
benefits and college grants to be withheld from drug users.

Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson, author of the book Crime
in Texas: Your Complete Guide to the Criminal Justice System, said the drug
laws have been stiffened under Mr. Bush, but not too harshly.

During the 1980s, Texas made almost every drug offense a felony, and those
rules were softened when the criminal statutes were rewritten, he said.

Mr. Bush took a moderate tack, toughening some areas but not reverting to
the blanket condemnation of the past.

"I'm satisfied we have smart and tough drug laws," he said.

Mr. Anderson, a prosecutor for 20 years, said that more inmates are in
prison for drugs than under previous governors, but the public shouldn't
think those inmates were casual users.

"There's not anybody down there who was smoking a joint of marijuana," he
said. "We don't send everyone. We send dealers and those who refuse to
change their ways."