HOUSE EXTENDS BUSH'S ANTI-DRUG OFFICE

WASHINGTON -- The House on Tuesday extended the life of the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy for five years while
initiating a new program to protect neighborhood activists who stand
up to local drug dealers.

The legislation, passed by voice vote, also brings changes to the High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program to ensure that it
focuses on places with critical drug problems and meets its goal of
having local, state and federal law enforcement agencies work together
in places with particularly serious drug problems.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., said it would give the
drug office director more flexibility to deal with changing
circumstances and tighten drug control programs to ensure they remain
focused on their core purposes.

The bill, which still must be taken up by the Senate, authorizes
spending of about $2.5 billion over five years for programs
administered by the White House drug czar to reduce illegal drug
trafficking and use.

The White House, in a statement, praised the bill, saying it
"maintains an effective balance between both supply reduction and
demand reduction strategies."

It also directs the office to direct at least $1 million annually to
the HIDTA program, aimed at providing protection to communities that
suffer from severe levels of drug-related crime.

The measure, backed by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., grew out of the
firebombing of a Baltimore home a year ago that killed Carnell and
Angela Dawson and their five children. The attack on the Dawson family
was in apparent retaliation for Mrs. Dawson's complaints to the police
about drug dealing activities in her neighborhood.

The legislation tightens the criteria for designating HIDTAs, which
now cover about 60 percent of the national population, to focus on
drug traffic. The drug office director, currently John P. Walters, is
required to review current high-intensity areas and remove those that
no longer meet the criteria. Thirty percent of HIDTA funding is
required to be spent in the seven areas through which the most
national drug traffic passes; 20 percent must be spent in the
Southwest border area.

The measure also reinforces requirements that the national youth
anti-drug media campaign be effective and accountable and not be used
for political purposes.

The drug policy office was established in 1988 to set policies and
programs for the national anti-drug effort.

The bill is H.R. 2086.