GRASSLEY WANTS DRUG CZAR FIRED

DES MOINES, IA - Sen. Charles Grassley on Wednesday called for
President Bush to fire the nation's drug czar, claiming more needs to
be done to combat methamphetamine abuse.

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug
Policy, has been focusing too much on curbing marijuana use, said
Grassley, R-Iowa.

Grassley said he wrote Walters calling for more action on meth and
the response he received was "basically, bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo."

"I think the president ought to fire the drug czar," Grassley told
reporters Wednesday during a conference call.

"Marijuana obviously is a very big drug problem, particularly with
the more pure marijuana that's out there now. But the mind-altering
aspects of meth are just tremendous, and the change of personality
that comes, and the danger of it that comes, particularly when it's
domestically made."

A spokesman for Walters declined to comment.

Grassley is the chairman of the Senate Caucus on International
Narcotics Control. According to a recent study, his state has the
nation's third highest meth treatment rate behind Oregon and Hawaii.