DRUG CZAR WANTS INTERDICTION BILL TO LOSE IN CONGRESS

As the House voted to add $2.6 billion over three years to the government's
drug-interdiction efforts,the White House's drug-policy coordinator was
urging lawmakers to reject the legislation.

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said he would welcome extra money but
criticized the bill, passed 384-39, as an ill-conceived exercise in micro
management possibly motivated by election-year politics. The Senate has not
yet voted on the measure.

The bill would authorize spending $2.6 billion over three years for
drug-fighting efforts involving interdiction, law enforcement and U.S.
activities in countries where illegal drugs are produced. The bill does not
say where the money would come from.

The measure's goals are unrealistic, McCaffrey said, and its provisions are
not tied to a coherent strategy or based on informed analysis of the drug
problem. Furthermore, he said, some provisions authorize the purchase of
equipment he's never heard of and micromanages decisions that would be
better left to officials paid to make them.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan