Thread: Bush drug plan released

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/g ... 18,00.html
Bush drug plan released

By Rocky Mountain News
February 8, 2006

Gov. Bill Owens and White House drug czar John Walters today released President Bush's 2006 National Drug Control Strategy at a local treatment center.

The new strategy will seek a balance between reducing the demand and the supply of illegal drugs in the U.S.

Bush's anti-drug program will encourage more high schools to drug test students and urge teens to "live above the influence" of drugs and peer pressure, Walters said at the Synergy Youth Drug Treatment Center in Denver.

Illicit drug use among 8th, 10th and 12th graders has dropped by 19 percent, or about 700,000 teens, since 2001, Walters said.

Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that schools can randomly test high school students in competitive extracurricular activities, Walter's office and the Department of Education have provided grants and other support to at least 350 school districts to screen students.

Walters said the number of districts participating has grown by about one per week since last spring.

"If we reduce teenage exposure, the problem will be reduced for generations to come," Walters said. "If you start to use later, there’s a much lower risk of addiction."

Walters also said the 2006 program calls for expanding intervention programs and increasing treatment options. It also calls for more funding for drug courts, which can order supervised drug treatment rather than prison time for drug offenders.

The announcement followed President Bush's release of his 2007 budget request which includes $57 million in cuts in federal funded alcohol programs for youth, said Mason Tvert of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation or SAFER.

The Colorado-based non-profit educates the public about the harmful effects of alcohol. SAFER was involved in the Denver ballot initiative that would have legalized marijuana within city limits. The city said state and federal laws still ban the substance and SAFER is gathering signatures for a statewide initiative.

Tvert said Bush's budget would strip $32.4 million from the Alcohol Use and Reduction Program and slice $24.8 million from the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws funding.

And yet the drug transportation corridors along the border remain wide open.

Has Bush even heard of Nuevo Laredo?