DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY LAUNCHED

DENVER -- The Bush administration yesterday announced its 2006
National Drug Control Strategy in the first city to legalize
marijuana, a decision that wasn't entirely coincidental.

John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, who selected a youth drug treatment center here as the site
for the announcement, said Denver represented "a model of what we see
and what we're trying to face."

"We really came here because they had many of the elements we were
looking for: the federal-local partnership, they've faced problem with
methamphetamine labs, they've faced the problem with drug trafficking
from the southwest border," Mr. Walters said.

"At the same time, I certainly don't shy away from going to places
where [millionaire campaign financier] George Soros tells people that
using drugs [is] safe and that drug use should be legal," he said.

The 2006 strategy calls for a continuation of the Bush
administration's balance of reducing demand through, among other
things, drug-prevention campaigns, and reducing supply by securing the
Mexican border.

Mr. Walters described the strategy, implemented in 2001, as a success,
pointing to studies showing that overall teenage drug use has dropped
since then by 19 percent. Use of methamphetamine, LSD and steroids
also have declined, he said.

"What we've learned is that treatment and education can work," said
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican who appeared with Mr. Walters
at the press conference. "A lot of times we're told it's an unwinnable
battle, yet the numbers are clear -- we are winning."

Denver stunned the nation in November when voters approved an
initiative decriminalizing adult possession of up to 1 ounce of
marijuana, the most liberal such law in the nation. Legalization
activists now are working to put a similar measure on the statewide
ballot, a proposal Mr. Owens and state Attorney General John Suthers
have vowed to defeat.

Mr. Walters said his office would support the effort to defeat the
initiative if it wins a slot on the November ballot. "We've decided to
stand with the people who provide treatment," said Mr. Walters.
"Marijuana is the single biggest cause of treatment in this country by
far."

Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable
Recreation, accused Mr. Walters of using federal funds to campaign
against the initiative by bringing his anti-drug message to Colorado.

"I obviously think it's pretty ridiculous that they've called in the
federal government to do their dirty work for them," said Mr. Tvert.
"It's unfortunate the drug czar is willing to spend federal money to
fly to Denver and strategize against future ballot measures."

Mr. Tvert, the mover behind the successful Denver measure and now the
statewide proposal, said that Mr. Soros, a critic of the federal war
on drugs, has given no money to either marijuana-legalization campaign.

Legalization advocates say marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol
and deny that pot is a "gateway drug" for more dangerous narcotics.