FEDERAL OFFICIALS LAUD OREGON'S DRUG COURTS

Oregonians and the commanders of the federal War on Drugs have found plenty
to disagree on in recent years.

Oregon voters have twice approved the nation's only assisted-suicide law,
which last week was upheld by a federal judge despite the Bush
administration's attempt to dismantle it. Oregon's electorate also has
approved the use of medical marijuana despite criticism by the feds. And
they've crimped law enforcement efforts to go after drug users and
producers by passing an initiative prohibiting the seizure of property in
drug busts without a conviction.

But the Bush administration's top two anti-drug warriors - in Oregon on
Friday for a firsthand look at the state's efforts to battle
methamphetamine production - found something here that they and Oregonians
appeared to agree on: the value of drug courts.

John Walters, the White House's drug czar, and Asa Hutchinson, the
administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, joined Oregon
judges, elected officials, law-enforcement officers and people who have
been treated for drug addiction at a state Capitol ceremony kicking off
"National Drug Court Month."

Multnomah County initiated the second such court in the nation, and about
30 now are in place across Oregon, prompting both men to say Oregon is a
leader in using the judicial system to direct drug offenders toward treatment.

Walters said drug courts are vital in the effort to get people off drugs
because the presiding judges have the legal clout, through their ability to
impose fines and jail time, to keep drug users on the straight-and-narrow
path of drug treatment.

"Unlike bureaucrats and administrators, judges have a peculiar ability to
give directions and know that those directions are going to be followed,"
he told the audience, which included about a half-dozen people who received
treatment for their addiction after appearing in drug court.

Drug courts help addicts stay clean by addressing the underlying causes of
their drug use. The Lane County Drug Court, the second of its kind in
Oregon, was started in 1994. Since then, judges have dismissed criminal
charges against hundreds of addicts who completed treatment, made all court
appearances and passed drug tests.

Lane County's drug court, like its counterparts throughout the state, has
struggled to establish sustainable revenue. Lane County Circuit Court Judge
Darryl Larson, who established the county's drug court and served as its
administrator until January, said funding issues continue to plague drug
courts.

Larson said the federal government has been helpful in providing one-time
dollars to establish drug courts, but the courts could use longer-term
funding and more money for treatment.

"They need treatment dollars to function," he said. "If you don't have
adequate treatment slots on demand to put them into, you just can't do it."

Because of a state and local budget crunch, drug courts are facing serious
funding problems.

"We're hurting more than we've ever hurt in the past," he said.

Although federal support has been limited to helping fund training for
those who operate drug courts, Hutchinson said President Bush wanted to
increase Washington's level of support and called for increased spending on
drug courts.

Walters concurred, saying drug courts are something "we probably can expand
even more rapidly" through grants to states.

Earlier Friday, differences emerged between the federal anti-drug effort
and the views of many Oregonians. During Walter's appearance before the
Portland City Club, a physician challenged the government's criminalization
of drug use.

"After 30 years of the war on drugs, couldn't you say your presence here is
an admission of failure?" Dr. Euan Horniman asked Walters after the
official gave a breakfast speech at the City Club.

Horniman noted that Britain and The Netherlands have decriminalized some
drug use and offered addiction treatment programs instead of jail time
without increasing the crime rate.

Walters replied that decriminalization has failed when it has been tried in
this country. He singled out former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke for
criticism, saying addiction rates and HIV infection from illegal drug use
skyrocketed after Schmoke relaxed drug enforcement in the city.

"If you want an example of why it doesn't work ... my answer is to go to
Baltimore," Walters said.

He said teen-agers and marijuana still rank as the top priorities of the
government's anti-drug program, despite what the administration contends is
a more relaxed attitude toward drug use by parents in the baby boomer
generation.

Government surveys indicate that about one in four of the 4.5 million
Americans with drug problems are teen-agers, he said.

"I'm no Pollyanna - I don't think we can eliminate the drug problem,"
Walters said. "But studies repeatedly show if they don't use drugs as
teen-agers, they're unlikely to use them as adults. The same goes for
cigarettes and alcohol."

Later Friday, Hutchinson and Walters took a helicopter tour of a
methamphetamine "superlab" that was raided by authorities in February 2000.
They were joined by U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley over the site of the meth lab
near Gervais, one of the first of several "superlabs" that have been raided
in Marion County.

Hutchinson said Oregon ranks fifth in the nation for the number of meth lab
seizures.

"You've also got more superlabs - labs that produce more than 10 pounds of
methamphetamine" at a time, he said. "It's a serious law enforcement
problem and community health problem that has to be addressed."

"I'm no Pollyanna - I don't think we can eliminate the drug problem. But
studies repeatedly show if they don't use drugs as teen-agers, they're
unlikely to use them as adults. - John Walters, White House's Drug Czar