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 resident Bush
has nominated John Walters, a former aide to William Bennett, as
his drug czar. Walters has critics, who
say that he places too much emphasis on punishing drug offenders
and not enough on treatment. The outgoing drug czar, Barry McCaffrey,
has joined the criticism. Some of that criticism may be unfair —
Walters actually supports treatment, but thinks that legal sanctions
are necessary to get addicts into treatment — but the truth
is bad enough. Walters believes that the Clinton administration
was insufficiently tough on states that voted to allow medicinal
marijuana. He favors the further militarization of drug policy,
even though there is little evidence that military interdiction
efforts affect drug consumption. He testified in favor of shooting
down civilian aircraft suspected of carrying drugs over Peru —
a policy that recently claimed the lives of an American missionary
and her child. Defenders of that policy might say that all wars
have civilian casualties. But if we are going to continue to wage
a war for the utopian goal of a "drug-free America," it should at
least be run by someone who is willing to take account of the war's
costs. John Walters does not appear to be that man.
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