WHITE HOUSE MOVES TO INFLUENCE URBAN DRUG POLICIES

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - The White House will soon begin working
directly with drug officials in large U.S. cities in an effort to influence
their substance abuse programs and lower drug addiction rates, President
Bush drug czar announced Thursday.

The move is intended to expose local officials to the latest proven methods
of cutting illegal drug use and to increase the efficiency with which they
use federal anti-drug funds, said John P. Walters, director of the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The effort is targeted at 25 major urban areas, where illegal drug use rates
are typically more severe than in less densely populated places. Walters
said that some of the areas have suffered from financial mismanagement that
impedes drug treatment and prevention programs from reaching more people.

"We don't manage this problem as if we expect to make it smaller," he told
reporters.

The plan calls for improved information-sharing between cities and federal
agencies and for smoothing communications among law enforcement, courts, and
substance abuse prevention and treatment programs within major cities.

Walters, who said he would personally visit all 25 cities in the program,
also suggested that the White House would use the contacts as an opportunity
to promote the sometimes-controversial drug policies it favors.

For example, communities with widespread illegal drug use among teens are
likely to hear strong suggestions from the Bush Administration to implement
school-based drug testing, he said.

Though he stressed that federal officials would not prescribe fixes for drug
problems in individual cities, Walters said they would use their power over
discretionary federal funding to encourage local officials to improve drug
programs.

Bush in 2001 pledged to reduce illegal drug use 10 percent by December 2003
and by 25 percent by 2006.

"This is beyond our usual responsibility," Walters said of the 25-city
initiative, which includes New York, Miami, Chicago and Seattle. "If we are
going to be successful, this is how the work gets done."

Bush administration officials have had contentious relationships with drug
officials and law enforcement agencies in some states and localities,
usually over the issue of legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Federal agents have conducted raids on marijuana distributors operating with
licenses in California, where a state law allows distribution and use of the
drug for some medical uses. Walters supports the actions, and this position
has caused clashes with officials in San Francisco and other municipalities
in the state.

Walters argued that the conflicts would have little effect on local
officials' willingness to take advice on drug policy from the White House,
saying that most local substance abuse experts are only concerned with
lowering drug use, and not with political fights.

But he noted that "there'll be some resistance to this in some places."