U.S. President George "Dubya" Bush has appointed John Walters as head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Walters believes "the three greatest urban myths of our time" are that too many people are imprisoned for drug use; that drug sentences are too harsh, and that the system is unjustly punishing young black men.

Of the 1.6m drug arrests in 1998, almost 80 per cent were for possession. The average drug sentence in 1997 was 78 months - twice the average sentence for manslaughter. Black men are admitted to state prisons for drug offenses at a rate 13.4 times greater than that of most white men. Since when did facts become "myths"?