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Yesterday, Director Walters was in Baton Rouge, LA surveying substance abuse treatment and recovery services that are being provided to hurricane evacuees. He began his visit in Baton Rouge by touring the River Center Evacuee Shelter, which is also know as the "ground zero" shelter in Louisiana. According to Red Cross officials, it has housed over 5,000 people, but currently holds approximately 1,500 evacuees.

The estimated number of people in need of substance abuse treatment or recovery services increases during times of severe emotional distress, which can lead to relapses or on-set of new problems for individuals affected by crisis. The Bush Administration is working with the Red Cross to ensure people impacted by Katrina and Rita who suffer from serious mental health disorders and/or addictive disorders continue to receive the treatment they need. In coordination with the Red Cross and local treatment facilities, such as Set Free Indeed, the Administration is facilitating 12-Step programs and availability of substance abuse counselors at shelters across the country.

Following his tour of the River Center Shelter, Director Walters meet with Tonja and Darren Myles and staff from the Set Free Indeed Treatment Facility. Along with other faith-based organizations throughout Louisiana, Set Free Indeed has been essential in the facilitation of 12-Step programs and providing counselors to those in need. In addition to treatment, Set Free Indeed has also set up the first shelter in Baton Rouge for First Responders who were deployed to New Orleans during the aftermath of Katrina.

For more information on how to help, please visit the Red Cross

The City of Newburyport, Massachusetts will start randomly drug testing their High School athletes thanks to an ONDCP Drug-Free Communities Grant. The Daily News of Newburyport reports:

"In a huge boost to local schools and the fledgling Youth Services Department, the city received a five-year, $400,000 federal grant to establish programs that will warn athletes about steroids, reduce drug use among youth and provide resources to aid parents in those efforts."

More proof that marijuana growers aren't Cheech and Chong types. From the AP out of Ellsworth, Maine: Drug Agents Find Booby-Trapped Pot Patch

"Agents moving in to seize the plants near a stream in Franklin encountered booby traps that included sharp objects and trip wires. A state police bomb squad found that the trip wires were not connected to explosives, but were intended to make people fall on sharp objects sticking out of the ground."

Finally, the widow of a Canadian Mountie is speaking out about Canada's marijuana problem. Her husband was killed along with three others during a raid of a marijuana growing operation in Canada. The Edmonton Journal covers her plea:

"EDMONTON—The widow of one of four Mounties slain last March near Mayerthorpe called Sunday for changes to the criminal justice system "to prevent similar tragic events."

If Ottawa doesn't make changes, Kim Gordon said justice reform could become an issue in the next federal election. She added that the Mounties' families won't stop pushing until they see some action.

The young widow and mother of two young sons, Spencer, 3, and Anthony, 13 weeks, also asked Ottawa to acknowledge the country has a problem with drug control, specifically marijuana.

Her husband, Anthony, along with fellow constables Peter Schiemann, Brock Myrol and Leo Johnston, were gunned down by known cop-hater James Roszko, who ambushed them as they guarded a marijuana grow operation and some stolen auto parts found inside a Quonset hut on his farm.

ONDCP's Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC) recently distributed state-of-the-art equipment to local police forces engaged in disrupting the flow of drugs to their communities. Law enforcement agencies received the equipment and training through ONDCP's Technology Transfer Program and receive the equipment at no cost.

Hiawatha, Iowa is one of the cities that will benefit from this ONDCP initiative. Here are the details from WHO TV in Iowa:

"HIAWATHA, Iowa Police in Hiawatha are among the first in the state to use a detector to find hidden compartments in vehicles. The 15-thousand dollar device fits in the palm of your hand and can measure the density of car doors, trunk lids and other items.

It includes a fiber optic line that can check small spaces with a remote lens.

Police say the detector can help to better finds drugs hidden in vehicles.

The device was paid for by the Office of the National Drug Control Policy."

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During a visit to Cincinnati yesterday, Director Walters announced that 176 communities across the Nation will receive over $17 million in grants for community based drug prevention efforts. An additional $54 million will support the continuation of grant awards to 535 existing community coalition projects operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Among the new grantees were three new community groups based in Cincinnati. Immediately following the announcement, Director Walters toured the Lower Price Hill neighborhood in Cincinnati to see how a drug-affected neighborhood will benefit from further anti-drug action. The Cincinnati Enquirer covered the visit:

"LOWER PRICE HILL - Children used to walk by prostitutes on their way to school.

"Now you don't see them anymore. I chased them away," Cincinnati Police Officer Steve Ventre told the White House drug czar John Walters as they walked through the low-income neighborhood where plastic baggies, pieces of tin foil and beer bottles litter the streets and cover the ground between buildings.

Walters, director of national drug control policy, visited St. Michael's Center on Thursday to award $500,000 grants to three local drug coalitions, including one in Lower Price Hill.

"The drugs are eating us alive here," said Linda Esterman, an outreach worker at St. Michael's Center. "We see it every day."

Coalition for a Drug Free Lower Price Hill formed about three years ago when OxyContin began affecting the working-class neighborhood.

"OxyContin overwhelmed the community," said Kay Clifton, the coalition's grant director.

The coalition will receive $100,000 a year for the next five years to help curb young people's appetite for drugs and alcohol by creating local programs and activities that will keep kids off the streets, Clifton said.

Ventre gave Walters a tour of a few side streets surrounding St. Michael's Center, where many buildings are vacant or boarded up."

USA Today reports:

STOCKHOLM—Supermodel Kate Moss won't be the face of H&M's fall campaign. The Swedish-based clothing chain, Hennes & Mauritz, canceled the deal Tuesday after Moss expressed regret over a London tabloid story that said she had used cocaine.

"After evaluating the situation, we have decided to cancel the planned campaign with Kate Moss because it is inconsistent with H&M's clear disassociation with drugs," company spokeswoman Liv Asarnoj told USA TODAY Tuesday. "We are strongly against drugs."

Parents at the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Arizona will now have the choice to sign their children up for random drug testing. In 1991, this school district became the first in the state to randomly test athletes and is believed to be the first in Arizona to implement a voluntary opt-in plan for the larger student body.

Director Walters visited the program with Paradise Valley Unified School District officials in June 2004. Thanks to an additional $18,000 in funding from the Maricopa County's Attorney's Office, the program is being expanded.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that schools can have mandatory random drug testing for athletes, but the ruling doesn't extend to testing all students. District officials say they are adhering to that ruling because the drug testing is voluntary.

School officials will tell parents if their children test positive, but the students won't face discipline or criminal charges.

"Basically, it's a support system for parents," said Jim Lee, the district's director of student services.

The Paradise Valley School Board unanimously approved the program Thursday night. The board based its decision in part on a survey conducted last year that showed a vast majority of district parents would support such a program.

Read the entire story.

For more information on how to start a student drug testing program in your school please click here.

Yesterday, President Bush authorized the Secretary of State to transmit to Congress the annual report listing major illicit drug-producing and drug-transit countries (known as the "Majors List"). The same report contains Presidential determinations of the countries that have "failed demonstrably" to make substantial efforts during the previous 12 months to adhere to international counternarcotics agreements and to take the counternarcotics measures specified in U.S. law.

The President reported to Congress his determination that Burma and Venezuela have "failed demonstrably," during the previous 12 months, to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and take the measures set forth in U.S. law.

The Miami Herald reported on yesterday's announcement:

"The U.S. State Department's No. 3 official, Nicholas Burns, announced the Bush administration decision Thursday in New York City around the time Chávez was arriving there for a U.N. summit gathering. The only other nation decertified this year was Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Accompanying Burns, U.S. drug czar John Walters said that in the past Venezuelan cooperation on drugs was "quite successful and extensive" but that now it seemed that Chávez "no longer wants a productive relationship."

A sad story out of Jacksonville, Florida:

"A toddler is safe with his mother Monday after a harrowing car ride as police said his father eluded officers, then jumped from the moving vehicle before it crashed into a fence in downtown Jacksonville.

Police said they found the frightened 1-year-old on the front seat holding a pill bottle full of powder cocaine. The child was not in a car seat or even a seat belt, but was unhurt in the crash.

Police said they were trying to stop Julian Mayo, 23, after seeing him driving with no headlights on Rushing Street just after 8 p.m. Officers said the Mayo refused to stop, turned onto Tyler Street, then onto 1st Street.

At one point, officers said that Mayo jumped from the moving car, then got back in, made a right turn into an open field at First and State streets and crashing into the fence. Police said Mayo then ran away from the car and the officer chose to care to the toddler rather than chase the suspect."

View video of a witness account from WJXT here.

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Canada's CTV is reporting that Canada's government will be shelving a bill to decriminalize marijuana. According to the report:

"With so much opposition to the bill, officials say the Liberals are content to leave marijuana reform on the backburner, which could mean it will be many more years before there is another attempt to decriminalize marijuana."

In a related story, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has made a huge pot bust in New Brunswick, Canada.

"RCMP in New Brunswick have shut down what they are calling among the biggest marijuana grow operations they have ever seen there.

So far, the 25 officers involved in the grow op bust have counted more than 19,000 plants at the operation they uncovered in a forest in the town of Adamsville, north of Danton.

"This amount unofficially represents the largest seizure in Atlantic Canada, and possibly the third largest in Canada," said Sgt. Dave Carole of the Richibucto RCMP."

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Commemorating the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America, Director Walters visited the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio on Sunday to show America's appreciation of service to soldiers who have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Director Walters also met with family members of soldiers stationed abroad at the Fisher House. Director Walters thanked soldiers and family members on behalf of President Bush for helping to defend America.

The City of San Antonio has also shown America's spirit of generosity by housing and feeding over 5,000 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina in four locations around the city. During a visit to one of the shelters, Director Walters met with City and County health officials who are working to provide displaced persons in need of drug treatment with substance abuse services. The City is currently providing transportation to local drug treatment centers and officials from the Red Cross have set up daily AA meetings for individuals who are in recovery. Mayor Phil Hardberger and Director Walters toured the shelter to thank volunteers for their hard work.

To help respond to Hurricane Katrina visit www.RedCross.org or call 1–800–HELP–NOW.

Download chart in PDF format

More encouraging news that America's balanced strategy against illegal drugs is paying off. Director John Walters and officials from the Department of Health and Human Services today announced a 9 percent decline in illicit drug use among American youth between the ages of 12 and 17 from 2002 to 2004. Marijuana use also declined by 7 percent among young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 during this same period. This new information comes from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Particularly striking was a decline in current use, defined as used in the past month, of marijuana among boys ages 12–17, from 9.1 percent in 2002 down to 8.1 percent in 2004. Similarly, for the 18–25 year old category, the cohort with the highest illicit drug use rates, there were declines in current marijuana use from 17.3 percent in 2002 to 16.1 percent in 2004; and use of hallucinogens from 1.9 percent in 2002 to 1.5 percent in 2004.

The Associated Press has the story.

The BBC has a great report about a school in the UK that has seen a dramatic improvement in their student body as a result of random student drug testing.

"The headteacher of a Kent school which introduced random drug testing of pupils believes it contributed to an all-time high in GCSE pass rates.

The Abbey School in Faversham, which began testing pupils at the beginning of 2004, is believed to be the first in the UK to do so.

This year, 40% of pupils achieved five good GCSE passes, compared with 26% last year and 32% the year before.....

Out of 270 tests conducted so far, only one was positive. One pupil refused to take the drug test because he admitted he was a cannabis smoker and did not want to stop.

In both cases, the pupils were interviewed in the presence of their parents and "appropriate" action taken.

Mr Walker told the BBC news website he would not expel pupils unless they were drug pushers, which did not apply to either of these students.

He said he wanted to increase the percentage of pupils whose parents and guardians had given permission for the testing."

Director Walters' remarks from last week are now available online (PDF).

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Robert C. Bonner attended a Paws to Recognize ceremony held in New York, honoring “Jacko” as the winner of the third annual “Paws to Recognize” tribute to working dogs voting contest. “Jacko” follows in the paw prints of “Trouble” who was last year’s co-winner. “Crazy Joe,” another CBP Canine, was voted America's favorite hero dog in 2003.

“Jacko” was nominated for this program from the over 1,200 detector dog teams at CBP. “Jacko,” an eight-year-old Belgian Malinois, and his handler, Border Patrol Agent (BPA) Clay Thomas are stationed at CBP’s Marfa Border Patrol Sector, Sierra Blanca Station, Sierra Blanca, Texas. Like “Crazy Joe” and “Trouble,” “Jacko” received honors in a “Black Collar Salute” and had his paw prints enshrined in the “Paws” walk of fame.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and its canine enforcement teams are the frontline in protecting America’s borders. Together, they protect the American public against terrorists and terrorist weapons, steadfastly enforce the laws of the United States while saving lives and fostering the nation’s economic security through lawful international trade and travel.

For more on the contest click here.

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During a speech at the Washington, D.C. Hudson Institute yesterday, Director Walters discussed the continued success of Plan Colombia and noted a substantial decline in South American heroin purity and an increase in price over the past four years. The retail price increase of South American heroin on U.S. streets amounted to 30 percent since 2001. A decrease of 22 percent over the past four years was noted for South American heroin purity since 2001. The Miami Herald has the story:

"According to the Drug Enforcement Administration Domestic Monitor Program, which uses samples obtained through undercover purchases to measure purity, South American heroin was 32.5 percent pure in 2004, down from 41.8 percent in 2003. The price was $1 per milligram in 2004 versus 77 cents a year earlier.

In the past, the Bush administration has cited statistics from fewer kidnappings to record crop eradications as proof that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, an erstwhile U.S. ally, was making headway against drug traffickers and the paramilitary fighters and left-wing guerrilla groups that have been battling the government for decades.

Walters praised Uribe for his "spectacular" results.

But until now, the upbeat numbers in Colombia weren't coupled with corresponding increases in the price of cocaine or heroin—or a decline in purity of both—in the United States."

ONDCP Director Walters calls Colombia efforts underappreciated.