DRUG CZAR VOWS TO FIGHT LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA

Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Visits Nevada to Stave
Off Newest Efforts

RENO -- The nation's drug czar vowed Wednesday to do everything within
his power to stop new efforts to legalize marijuana in Nevada and
other states.

"People thought it was inevitable here two years ago," said John
Walters, whose actual title is director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy. "If we don't stop them, everything else is
undermined."

Nevada voters rejected a ballot question two years ago to legalize up
to three ounces of marijuana. That proposal failed by a vote of 39
percent for, 61 percent against. Prior to the vote, Walters' office
saturated the Nevada airwaves with anti-drug announcements.

Walters said he had no choice but to embark on the government-financed
anti-marijuana campaign because the Marijuana Policy Project can rely
on funds provided by billionaire financier George Soros and other
wealthy contributors.

"A lot of money has been spent in this state to make the drug problem
worse," said Walters in an interview before he addressed a group of
drug prevention advocates. "I was moved by the pleas of people who
said outsiders are trying to make our state into a guinea pig."

This year, the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, funded by
the MPP, fell about 2,000 signatures short of placing another question
on the Nov. 2 ballot to legalize an ounce of marijuana.

Nonetheless, the committee is out collecting signatures this fall on a
new petition to legalize marijuana.

If the organization collects 51,337 valid signatures on petitions by
Nov. 9, then the 2005 Legislature must consider its plan to legalize
marijuana.

If the Legislature rejects or amends the proposal, then voters in the
2006 election would decide whether to legalize marijuana.

Walters said teenage drug use declined by 11 percent between 2001 and
2003. But he charged the anti-drug efforts of his office are
undermined by initiative backers who suggest the drug really isn't
harmful.

Of 7 million people with drug dependency problems in the United
States, Walters said 62 percent are dependent on marijuana.

But Larry Sandell, the campaign manager for the Committee to Regulate
and Control Marijuana, maintains his organization is not trying to
present the image to teens that marijuana use is appropriate.

"We aren't pro-pot," he said. "But we are saying this drug is part of
our society. Anyone who wants marijuana can get it. We need to control
it and keep it out of the hands of kids. Drug dealers don't card."

He said a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study last
year found 22.3 percent of Nevada teens had used marijuana in the past
month, compared to 19.6 percent who used cigarettes.

With controlled, legal marijuana, the number of illegal drug dealers
would drop and teens would have a harder time acquiring it, Sandell
said.

Voters in Oregon, Montana and Alaska will cast votes Nov. 2 on
MPP-backed proposals to legalize marijuana.

Walters said the Bush administration wants to reduce teen drug usage
by another 14 percent by 2006.

"A lot of people say people are always going to use drugs," Walters
said. "I don't deny that people aren't going to be perfect. But
civilization is about containing the worst impulses of people and
encouraging the best impulses. It is an ongoing effort."