October
15, 2001
Alert!: Say No to John
Walters as Next Drug Czar
[From the Lindesmith Center- Drug Policy Foundation]
President Bush has nominated John Walters, to be
our nation's next drug czar. Unfortunately, John
Walters is too divisive, too insensitive, and too
extreme to be an effective drug czar. Walters is an
ardent drug warrior who supports harsh sentences
for non-violent drug offenders, opposes meaningful
drug treatment programs, supports escalation of the
Latin American drug war, and denies that racial
disparities exist in the criminal justice system.
At a time that public sentiment is rapidly shifting
from a criminal justice approach to drug abuse
towards a cheaper and more effective public health
approach, Walters still believes we can arrest and
spend our way out of the drug problem.
We need your help! Many members of the Senate
Judiciary Committee are considering voting against
John Walters as drug czar. If we can get ten
Senators on the Committee to vote against him, we
can prevent Walters from becoming our nation's next
drug czar. We have as little as two weeks to
convince Judiciary Members to vote against Walters.
What can you do to help?
First, are you a voter in one of the following
states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware,
Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts,
New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, or Wisconsin?
If you are, please go to
http://www.stopjohnwalters.org
and send a fax to
your Senator(s) on the Judiciary Committee,
telling them to vote against Walters.
PLEASE SEND A FAX NOW, Senators need to hear from
you right away. Go to
http://www.stopjohnwalters.org
.
Second, please forward this e-mail to as many
friends, family members, and co-workers as
possible. Ask them to read it and take action.
Third, and very important: Please consider giving
us a contribution to help us wage our campaign
against John Walters. Go to
http://www.drugpolicy.org/membership
to find out how to give a donation. Even a small
contribution of $25, $50, or $100 helps. We need
money for our grassroots efforts to influence
Senators.
__________________________________________________
UPDATE ON THE JOHN WALTERS CONFIRMATION HEARING
On October 10th the Senate Judiciary Committee
held a confirmation hearing on John Walters. Many
Senators were very critical of Walters and his
views, especially on drug treatment, mandatory
minimums, and racial disparities in the drug war.
While Walters handled most of the questions posed
to him quite well, he could not adequately defend
his record. Indeed, he often backtracked from
long-held positions - a tactic referred to as a
"confirmation conversion" in Washington.
Written testimony can be read at:
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/DailyNews/10_12_01Walters.html
Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), who chaired the hearing,
gave the hearing's opening remarks. Much of what he
said was critical of Walters. While he emphasized
that he had the utmost respect for John Walters, he
noted that there are a number of issues on which he
and Walters disagree.
"I am particularly troubled by Mr. Walters many
writings regarding drug treatment," he said. "He
has written that the 'view that therapy by a team
of counselors, physicians and specialists is the
only effective way to reduce drug use' is a 'myth.'
In contrast, the top doctors and scientists in the
field of addiction believe that addiction is a
chronic, relapsing brain disease and that addiction
treatment is as successful as treatment for other
chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and
asthma."
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, was equally critical of
Walters.
"I do not doubt that John Walters has thought
seriously about our nation's drug problems," Leahy
said, "but I do doubt the conclusions that he has
reached and forcefully expressed on issues ranging
from drug treatment to interdiction to sentencing
issues." "In short, I'm not yet convinced that he
is the right person to head the Office of National
Drug Control Policy."
Leahy criticized Walters heavily in four areas:
Walters' lack of commitment to treatment: "Although
Mr. Walters has not developed a lengthy record on
treatment questions, some of his statements have
caused great concern among those who care about
treating drug addiction."
Walters' punitive criminal justice views: "Many of
us - Democrats and Republicans - have come to
question our reliance on mandatory minimum sentences
for a wide variety of drug offenses, as well as the
100 to 1 disparity under current law between
sentences for crack and powder cocaine. In his
writings and statements, Mr. Walters has been
hostile to reconsideration of these issues."
Walters' opposition to state medical marijuana laws:
"Mr. Walters has responded to this trend by
advocating that the federal Government use the
Controlled Substances Act to take away the federal
licenses from any physician who prescribes
marijuana to a patient in states that permit the
practice...In addition to running roughshod over any
federalism concerns whatsoever, Mr. Walters'
draconian response raises questions about his
sense of proportion."
Walters' support for escalation of the Latin
American drug war: "I am concerned that Mr.
Walters will seek to have the United States
overextend its anti-drug role in Latin America...
The costs - both financial and political - of our
involvement in the internal affairs of Latin
American nations require close scrutiny."
Other Senators that criticized Walters on various
grounds included Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Senator
Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Senator Herbert Kohl (D-WI).
Senators that praised Walters included Senator Orrin
Hatch (R-UT), Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Senator Jeff
Sessions (R-AL) and Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS).
Senator Hatch, the Ranking Member of the Committee,
testified extensively in favor of Walters. He said
that, "John Walters' career in public service has
prepared him well for this office." He went on to
add that Walters "has unparalleled knowledge and
experience in all facets of drug control policy."
Senator Kyl also testified extensively in favor of
Walters, but used half of his allotted question-
asking time to attack the Lindesmith Center - Drug
Policy Foundation, which has been leading the
charge to defeat Walters, and the Coalition for
Compassionate Leadership on Drug Policy, which
issued a non-partisan analysis of Walters' views in
September. (The report can be read in its entirety
at: http://www.ccldp.org/white_paper.html
)
While Walters spent several hours answering
questions from Senators, he spent most of the time
detailing his job experience, and little time
discussing the controversial statements he has made.
Despite a record of consistently favoring
incarceration over drug treatment, Walters told
Senators that he favored a balanced approach to the
problem of drug abuse.
"I have always believed that the fundamental
elements of effective drug control policy are
consistent with common sense," he told Senators.
"We need to prevent young people from experimenting
with drugs. We need to help those who have become
addicted get off and stay off drugs. We need to use
the coercive power of the criminal justice system
and other supply reduction programs to support the
domestic prevention and treatment efforts, as well
as pressuring and disrupting drug trafficking
organizations."
The Senate Judiciary Committee could vote on
Walters as early as two weeks from now.
__________________________________________________
THE CASE AGAINST JOHN WALTERS
President Bush has nominated John Walters, to be
our nation's next drug czar. Unfortunately, John
Walters is too divisive, too insensitive, and too
extreme to be an effective drug czar. Walters is an
ardent drug warrior who supports harsh sentences
for non-violent drug offenders, opposes meaningful
drug treatment programs, supports escalation of the
Latin American drug war, and denies that racial
disparities exist in the criminal justice system.
At a time that public sentiment is rapidly shifting
from a criminal justice approach to drug abuse
towards a cheaper and more effective public health
approach, Walters still believes we can arrest and
spend our way out of the drug problem.
Who Opposes John Walters?
-- A majority of Members of the Congressional Black
Caucus oppose John Walters. They have recently
issued a one and a half page statement to the
Senate Judiciary Committee. The statement reads,
in part:
"At a time when policymakers at all levels of
government are seeking to address racial
disparities in the criminal justice system,
John Walters denies that such disparities even
exist. His extensive record is one of extreme
insensitivity to the problems facing African
Americans. We believe his views on race and
crime make him unfit for a position that
requires sensitivity to racial fairness...We
find that John Walters is both woefully ill
informed on the facts of the day and
insensitive to the needs of the African
American community. We strongly urge you to
vote against John Walters as Director of the
Office of National Drug Control Policy."
Signers of the statement include Representative
John Conyers - Congress's most senior African
American Member and the Ranking Member of the
House Judiciary Committee.
-- Organizations opposing John Walters, include:
AIDS Action, AIDS Foundation of Chicago,
American College of Nurse-Midwives, California
Legislative Council for Older Americans,
Chicago Recovery Alliance, Colombia Action/CT,
Colombia Human Rights Committee, Latino Voters
League, Justice Policy Institute, National
Association for Public Health Policy, National
Black Police Association, National Center on
Institutions and Alternatives, National Women's
Health Network, Pesticide Action Network,
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, School of Americas
Watch, and Witness for Peace.
-- Over 20 newspapers have raised concerns about
John Walters, including: New York Times, Los
Angeles Times, Boston Globe, St. Louis Post-
Dispatch, Austin American-Statesman, Chicago
Sun-Times, Albany Times Union, Tulsa World,
and the Houston Chronicle.
-- The Betty Ford Center has issued a letter to
the Senate Judiciary Committee stating, in part:
"Mr. Walters may not have the confidence in the
treatment and prevention strategies that we
believe are necessary for the creation and
implementation of a balanced and thoughtful
approach to U.S. drug policy. Now, more
than
ever, with increased public criticism of U.S.
drug policies that rely heavily on interdiction
and criminal justice solutions to the drug
problem, we need a director with an unshakable
conviction in strategies to reduce the demand
for drugs in this country."
John Walters on the Issues
-- Racial Disparities, Sentencing, Mandatory
Minimums:
Just six months ago, in The Weekly Standard,
Walters stated: "Neither is it true that the
prison population is disproportionately made
up of young black men. Crime, after all, is
not evenly distributed throughout society. It
is common knowledge that the suburbs are safer
than the inner city, though we are not
supposed to mention it."
In the same article, he stunned academics and
researchers by stating that, "What really
drives the battle against law enforcement and
punishment, however, is not a commitment to
treatment, but the widely held view that (1) we
are imprisoning too many people for merely
possessing illegal drugs, (2) drug and other
criminal sentences are too long and harsh, and
(3) the criminal justice system is unjustly
punishing young black men. These are among the
great urban myths of our time."
Even a cursory glance at the facts, however,
proves that Walters is at odds with the truth:
· Of the 1,559,100 arrests for drug law
violations in 1998, 78.8% were for
possession
of a controlled substance. In 1997, over
100,000 people were in state or federal
prison
for possession of an illegal drug. This
does
not even count those among the roughly two
hundred thousand non-violent drug offenders
in
local jails.
· The average federal sentence for a drug offense
in 1997 was 78 months, over twice the
average
sentence for manslaughter and almost four
times
the average sentence for auto theft.
Possession
of crack weighing the equivalent of two
pennies
requires five years in federal prison with
no
possibility of parole.
· Although whites and African Americans use drugs
at equal rates, African American men are
admitted to state prison for drug offenses
at
a rate that is 13.4 times greater than that
of
white men. In 15 states, African American
men
are admitted to state prison for drug
charges
at a rate that is 20 to 57 times the white
male rate.
While both President Bush and DEA Administrator
Asa Hutchinson have said they are willing to
look at reforming mandatory minimums and
concentrating more resources on a demand-side
approach to drug abuse, John Walters has opposed
these positions in the past. He has even
actively opposed eliminating the crack/powder
cocaine sentencing disparity.
The immediate past drug czar, General Barry
McCaffrey, recognized that both sentence length
and sentence time served present a problem
for the U.S. criminal justice system, going so
far as to remark, "We must have law
enforcement authorities address the issue...but
having said that, I also believe that we have
created an American Gulag." In response, Walters
has said, "I am a strong supporter of
enforcement. It is prevention. A moral
lesson.
And I am against the part of the discussion
earlier that suggests that there are too many
people in jail... And for the Director (McCaffrey)
to say, 'I am troubled by the number of people
in jail,' sends the wrong message, I think."
Walters' also holds radical 'super-predator'
theories on juvenile crime that have been
thoroughly discredited; yet he still supports
them. Just six months ago he wrote, "Instead of
retreating from punishment, we should be
contemplating the limited demographic window
before us: By 2010, the population between the
ages of 15 and 17, just entering the most crime-
prone years, will be 31 percent larger than it
was in 1990." In his book with Bill Bennett,
"Body Count," the authors suggest that
Americans should be prepared to lock up as many
as 150,000 children.
-- Latin America:
Walters believes that interdiction and
eradication are the most important, if not the
only, anti-drug strategy for the federal
government to follow. His record suggests that
he is willing to escalate our entanglement in
the Latin American drug war at the expense of
funding for drug treatment at home. In 1996 he
stated, "that we need to do more in Latin
America. Fighting drugs at the source makes
sense. Federal authorities ought to be going
after the beehive, not just the bees. Foreign
programs are also cheap and effective." He has
even praised the very shoot-down policy that
led to the tragic deaths of two missionaries
in Peru earlier this year.
Walters was an early champion for the U.S.
shootdown policy in Peru. In 1996, he told the
Senate Judiciary Committee: "America's
chronically under funded program in Peru cost
just $16 million to run in FY 1996...The
Peruvians have managed to shoot down or disable
20 trafficker airplanes since March 1, 1995.
Unfortunately Peruvian President Fujimori's
aggressive line on drugs actually caused
President Clinton to bar Peru from receiving
radar-tracking data. That decision has badly
damaged Peruvian-American relations...this is
an opportunity to save American lives by
helping the Peruvians press their attack on
traffickers." Under pressure from Walters and
others, President Clinton resumed the shootdown
program with new procedures established in a
1994 agreement between the two countries.
In April 2001, a Peruvian Air Force jet guided
by a CIA surveillance plane killed an American
missionary and her daughter. A U.S. report on
the incident stated that, "Peru and the United
States were undisciplined and 'sloppy' in the
way they conducted a joint program to interdict
airborne drug smugglers." This incident
occurred even after the protocols were
established. Mr. Walters' statement implying
that the shootdown policy should have been
implemented even without protocols is
particularly troubling.
-- Treatment:
Walters has made some recent public statements
that seem to indicate he has doubts about the
disease theory of addiction. In the Weekly
Standard article he wrote, "If it weren't for
the ideology associated with treatment --
addiction is a disease, not a pattern of
behavior for which people can be held
responsible -- law enforcement and punishment
would be natural partners of the treatment
providers."
Walters has referred to drug treatment as "this
ineffectual policy - the latest manifestation
of liberals' commitment to a 'therapeutic state'
in which government serves as the agent of
personal rehabilitation."
Even former drug czar Barry McCaffrey has
expressed concern about Walters' priorities
being heavily skewed against treatment and
prevention, saying that Walters is "focused too
much on interdiction" and "needs to educate
himself on prevention and treatment." In
McCaffrey's words, Walters' feels "that there
is too much treatment capacity in the United
States" -- a view the former drug czar found
"shocking."
__________________________________________________
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
John Walters' Weekly Standard article:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n404/a01.html?1583
A non-partisan analysis of Walters' record by the
Coalition for Compassionate Leadership on Drug
Policy, whose members include the ACLU and NAACP:
http://www.ccldp.org/white_paper.html
Lindesmith-DPF press releases on John Walters:
-- Betty Ford Center, Majority of Congressional
Black Caucus, Civil Rights and Public Health
Groups All Urge Senate to Re-Think John Walters
as Drug Czar
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/pr-october10b-01x.html
-- Majority of Congressional Black Caucus Members
Urges Senate to Reject John Walters
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/pr-october10-01x.html
-- Critics Call Bush Drug Czar Pick -- John Walters -
"More Extreme Than Ashcroft"
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/pr-may10-01x.html
