'DRUG CZAR' PROMISES NO END TO WAR

More Than 40,000 In Colorado Admitted To Rehab Programs In 2001

There will be no letup in the country's battle against drug abuse, "drug
czar" John P. Walters said Tuesday in Denver.

"Our goal is not to cope with the drug problem, but to actively reduce
substance abuse in our society," Walters said in an address to the National
Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities conference. "The greatest
threat is the notion that we ought to give up and simply treat those people
who are addicted."

Walters, director of the office of National Drug Control Policy, said
President Bush's administration has set a goal of reducing drug use among
Americans by 25 percent in the next five years. Drug treatment funding will
expand by $1.6 billion during that time. "That is an ambitious goal, but it
is doable," Walters said.

Last year, more than 40,000 people in Colorado were admitted into drug
treatment programs.

An estimated 8.7 percent of Colorado residents age 12 and older use illegal
drugs, compared with 6.4 percent nationally.

Most Coloradans in treatment used marijuana, almost twice the number of
people receiving treatment for methamphetamine.

A profile of drug use in Denver, issued by the office of National Drug
Control Policy, indicated heroin is widely available in the city, with the
majority of sales taking place in the lower downtown area. The predominant
user group is adult white males living in the core city, although suburban
user groups are emerging.

The most common form of using heroin is injecting it, though younger adults
also tend to use heroin by snorting or smoking it.

Crack and powder cocaine are widely available, with users tending to be
black or white adults over the age of 30. Despite declines in crack cocaine
use, supplies continue to come into the city from street gangs in Los
Angeles and Chicago.

Marijuana availability has increased in the city and mostly comes from
Mexico through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Young adults make up the
primary selling group.

Methamphetamine is one of the most commonly abused drugs and is widely
available in Denver. Much of the drug originates in Mexico, but law
enforcement officials have seen an increase in small, local meth labs. From
January to March, 85 methamphetamine labs were seized in the Rocky Mountain
area.

Drug abuse and crime are closely linked, according to the profile. In 1999
in Denver, 66.8 percent of males and 69.1 percent of females arrested tested
positive for drugs at the time of their arrest.

Walters said efforts must continue to prevent, intervene in and treat drug
abuse.

"We must also change the cultural environment of denial," Walters said.

"Of the 6 million people addicted to drugs, more than half don't believe
they have a problem. Denial is part of the disease."

Walters later visited a Denver juvenile drug court, one of eight drug courts
in the state.

Drug courts provide an alternative to jail by using the authority of the
criminal justice system to help substance abusers get treatment and stay in
recovery.

"We have a responsibility - as family members, employers, physicians,
educators, religious leaders, neighbors, colleagues and friends - to reach
out to help these people," Walters said. "We must find ways to lead them
back to drug-free lives."