PRESIDENT SIGNS ANTI-DRUG MEASURE

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Friday that drug users aid terrorists who
get their money from global trafficking in narcotics. "If you quit drugs,
you join the fight against terrorism," he said.

Bush offered a new argument in the fight against drugs while signing a bill
to expand a federal anti-drug program over the next five years.

"Drug abuse threatens everything, everything that is best about our
country," he said. "It breaks the bond between parent and child. It turns
productive citizens into addicts. It transforms schools into places of
violence and chaos. It makes playgrounds into crime scenes. It supports
gangs at home."

"And abroad, it's important for Americans to know that trafficking of drugs
finances the world of terror, sustaining terrorists," the president said.

The administration has linked the al-Qaida network in Afghanistan to heroin
trafficking. The terrorist group, led by Osama bin Laden, is suspected in
the Sept. 11 attacks on America.

The bill signed by Bush expands the Drug-Free Communities Support Program,
which helps community groups reduce illegal drugs. The program's budget is
about $50 million, and would almost double in five years under the bill.

"Over time, drugs rob men, women and children of their dignity and of their
character," Bush said. "Illegal drugs are the enemies of ambition and hope
and when we fight against drugs we fight for the souls of our fellow
Americans."