DENVER MAYOR TO FOCUS ON DRUG WOES

DENVER - Mayor Wellington Webb has seen what drugs can do: He once asked a
judge to put his crack-using son in rehab.

Now, with 14 months to go in his third and final term, Webb plans to focus
on fighting drug abuse.

"We need to change our philosophy on how to deal with drug addiction, to
treat it as a health issue," the 61-year-old Democrat said recently.

Webb has proposed a $1 million plan to study the creation of a city-run
drug treatment center and to attack abuse with an additional drug court,
housing for binge drinkers and addicts, drug prevention programs in middle
schools and a major crackdown on sellers.

Drug abuse has been on Webb's agenda from the moment he was elected to the
Legislature in 1972. Back then he put through a law requiring insurance
companies to provide coverage for alcohol abuse treatment in all group plans.

More recently, his son's troubles and the drug problems he has seen as
mayor have helped focus his attention on the issue.

"I doubt there are many families that haven't been touched by a drug
problem. I know from my personal family pain of having to see addiction
problems," he said.

Webb's son Allen, 39, has had several brushes with the law. In 1994, the
mayor asked a judge to commit him to a rehabilitation center because of a
crack habit. Ultimately, the younger Webb voluntarily entered rehab.

Last year, the mayor's son was arrested on a marijuana possession charge.
He pleaded guilty and received two years' probation for the drug offense
and an unrelated robbery.

Denver has a detox center, where those who are drunk or high can be held
for 48 hours while they sober up. But it has no city-run rehab center.

The mayor, who has been credited with rebuilding downtown, expanding its
arts offerings and promoting the construction of sports arenas, said he
wants to see drug treatment become available to the average person.

He said there is treatment "for the Elizabeth Taylors and Betty Fords." But
he added: "There are no real treatment programs for people who just have a
job. You have to commit a crime to get treatment."

The problem is serious in Colorado.

Colorado ranked second in the nation in 2001, behind New Mexico, on a
substance abuse index that is based on drug- and alcohol-related deaths and
arrests. The index was developed by Harvard Medical School sociology
professor William McAuliffe.

Colorado ranked at or near the bottom in spending on prevention, research
and treatment, according to the National Center on Addiction and Drug Abuse
at Columbia University. One state, Georgia, did not report. Of every $100
spent by Colorado on drug abuse, only six cents goes to prevention,
research and treatment, said Susan Foster, the addiction center's vice
president of policy and research.

Some other prominent political families have also seen drug abuse up close.

Noelle Bush, daughter of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is being treated at a drug
treatment clinic after allegedly trying to buy an anti-anxiety drug with a
fraudulent prescription. Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson's 38-year-old
daughter died in January. The Tennessean in Nashville reported Saturday
that the death was the result of an accidental drug overdose.

In Denver, Councilmen Ted Hackworth said he has "real problems" with the
idea of setting up treatment centers for those who violate the law.

"And the city is about $12 million in the hole this year," he added. "It
isn't the time to start new programs."

But Councilman Ed Thomas, a former police officer, said: "It took me 20
years to learn that enforcement wasn't the only answer. Twenty years as a
cop. It's no better than it was then. If the mayor comes up with innovative
approaches, I am all for it."