NEW DRUG CZAR REVIEWING MINIMUM SENTENCES IDEA

WASHINGTON -- The nation's new drug czar yesterday said the Bush
administration is doing a thorough review of the concept of mandatory
minimum sentences for drug possession and drug use, including crack cocaine
and powder.

John Walters said one motivation for the review is to try to find a way to
accelerate the process of sorting out violent offenders from users or
possessors of drugs who may be more deserving of treatment than of a
10-year mandatory minimum jail term.

Walters has been in office since December and was a former deputy to
William Bennett, drug czar in the George H.W. Bush administration.

Critics argue that laws that took away judges' leeway in sentencing are
filling the nation's jails with prisoners who often aren't a threat to
society, but who come out of prison as hardened criminals or still
addicted. Drug use is a major cause of recidivism, these critics say.

Walters said that while there are concerns about mandatory minimum
sentences, "any serious look at the prison population shows that most
[people] incarcerated in state prisons are violent."

Nonetheless, many judges are among those rebelling at the mandatory minimum
sentences they must impose, even if they think such lengthy terms are
counter-productive, especially for young offenders.

Walters yesterday also defended the administration's controversial antidrug
ads, first aired during the Super Bowl, which link even casual use of
illegal drugs such as marijuana to terrorism because many terrorist groups
are involved in the distribution of illegal drugs worldwide. Despite some
arguments that the ads may backfire and expose the antidrug campaign to
ridicule, Walters is expanding their use. He said such ads are some of the
"most powerful and effective prevention messages" ever released by the
White House Office of Drug Control Policy.

"The bottom line is simple: Terror and drug groups are linked in a mutually
beneficial relationship by money, tactics, geography and politics," the
office's Web site at www.theantidrug.com declares.

President Bush announced his drug control strategy a month ago, saying he
wanted to reduce use of illegal drugs by 10 percent over two years and 25
percent over five years. He wants to spend $19.2 billion for drug control
in 2003, including a 6 percent increase for drug treatment, compared with
2002, and a 10 percent increase for border drug interdiction.