MCCAFFREY REPORTS DRUG TESTING ERRORS "Barry," President Clinton said, turning to White House drug control policy director Barry R. McCaffrey at last week's Cabinet meeting, "did you and Donna have a good time at the Olympics?" McCaffrey, who accompanied Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala on the delegation to Australia, launched into a lengthy review of his schedule there, including meetings with anti-drug officials, with WADA--the World Anti-Doping Agency--a news conference with Olympic marathoner Frank Shorter on drugs and sports, and on and on and on. "Give me a break, Barry," national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger finally interjected as the Cabinet roared. (Some members had barely stopped laughing over U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky's presentation, delivered in a croaking whisper as a result of laryngitis.) McCaffrey waited stone-faced until the laughter subsided before continuing. Clinton worried that there was no uniformity in the standards used by the various athletic governing bodies, especially given the apparently growing complexity and variety of the substances being regulated. McCaffrey agreed. There are certain foods or substances you can ingest that appear to be legal, he said, "but the body responds to them in a way that causes you to excrete banned" substances. The room erupted in laughter once again. There was no regaining control after Education Secretary Richard W. Riley, a soft-spoken, courtly southerner, deadpanned: "What are those foods, Barry?" "We have clearly digressed," Clinton said, standing up to end the session. [snip]
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