Ten Reasons the Senate Should Oppose John Walters

by Don Hazen

For example, despite scientists' warnings about the dangers of global warming, Bush/Cheney refused to adopt the Kyoto Protocal, which would have required the U.S. to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 7 percent by 2012. And despite the proven effectiveness of new technologies in reducing energy demand, Cheney insists the chief way to stave off coming energy shortages is to drill for oil, build hundreds of new power plants and reconsider nuclear energy.

But the area in which Bush/Cheney are probably most at odds with the public is in their nomination of John Walters to director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy -- or "drug czar." Despite Americans increasingly support for drug war alternatives, Bush has nominated someone who will be more hawkish than General Barry McCaffrey, the Clinton administration drug czar who reigned during the institution of Plan Colombia.

"President Bush has somehow found ... the one guy who's going to be more extremist than Attorney General John Ashcroft when it comes to drug policy," said Ethan Nadleman, director of the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, on CNN. "John Walters has stood very firmly for the proposition that drug policy should have absolutely nothing to do with public health or science or, for that matter, the facts. It's all about punishing people for their sins."

Here are ten reasons the Senate should send John Walters packing during the drug czar confirmation hearings:

1. Walters praised the Peruvian military's practice of shooting down civilian planes suspected of drug trafficking, even though it is against international law.

2. Walters co-wrote a book on crime and drugs that predicted a generation of drug-dealing "superpredators" would arise and dramatically increase youth violence. Instead, the rate of juvenile crime has dropped by half.

3. Walters has said "that there is too much treatment capacity in the United states." Even super drug warrior General Barry McCaffrey found this "shocking." Walters is "focused too much on interdiction and needs to educate himself on prevention and treatment," McCaffrey said.

4. Walters has derided advocates of more funding for drug treatment "as the latest manifestation of liberals' commitment to a therapeutic state in which government serves as the agent of personal rehabilitation."

5. Walters thinks it is an urban myth that the criminal justice system is biased against black men. But black men are admitted to state prisons at a rate 13.4 times greater than white men, though whites and blacks use drugs at equal rates.

6. Walters scoffs at the idea that few drug offenders have been imprisoned for possession of an illegal substance. But of the 1,559,100 arrests for drug law violations, 78.8 percent were for possession.

7. Walters doesn't think drug sentences are too long. Yet the average sentence for a drug offense in 1997 was 78 months, twice the average for manslaughter (30 months) and almost 4 times the sentence for auto theft (20 months).

8. Walters favors incarceration over education and treatment. He lobbied Congress for stiffer penalties for non-violent drug offenders.

9. Walters attacked the Clinton administration for retreating in the war on drugs, even though Clinton/Gore imprisoned more people for drug offenses than Reagan and Bush the Elder combined.

10. Walters stated the federal government should crack down on states that pass medical marijuana laws. Even the right wing magazine National Review opposed Walters' position.

To express your opinion about the nomination of John Walters as drug czar, contact your Senators through StopThe DrugWar.org.