OUTGOING DRUG CZAR PUSHES ADDICT TREATMENT

McCaffrey Decries Use Of Term `War On Drugs'

White House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey said Thursday in his final
report to Congress that America can win the war on drugs but needs to spend
more money on treating the nation's addicts.

"There's a mistaken notion in this country that the drug problem is
unsolvable, and it's just not true," he said at a news conference at the
White House.

But McCaffrey, who will step down Friday after nearly five years as the
country's drug czar, said Americans need to change the way they view the
country's efforts to stop illegal narcotics.

The former four-star general said the term "war on drugs" is "misleading"
and that a better comparison would be America's fight to cure cancer.

"Although wars are expected to end, drug education, like all schooling, is a
continuous process," he said. "Dealing with cancer is a long-term
proposition in which the symptoms of the illness must be managed while the
root cause is attacked."

McCaffrey said the biggest impediment to solving the drug problem has been a
lack of treatment options for the more than 5 million Americans who are
chronic addicts.

"If we don't have them in effective drug-treatment programs, we can't ever
break the cycle of crime, violence, accidents and health costs that come
from drug abuse," McCaffrey said.

In 1998, the last year for which figures are available, 57 percent of
America's addicts who needed treatment did not get it, according to his
Office of Drug Control Policy report. As a result, McCaffrey this year added
treatment as one of the goals of the National Drug Control Strategy, the
first time it has been listed in his annual report.

According to the report, drug abuse in the United States peaked in 1979,
when 14.1 percent of the population--or 25 million people--used illegal
narcotics. That figure fell to 6.7 percent, or about 18 million people, in
1999, the report said.

But the report also found that the number of young people--age 12 to
17--using illegal drugs rose from 5.7 percent in 1993 to 11.4 percent in
1997. However, McCaffrey noted that drug use in that age bracket has begun
to wane, falling to 9 percent in 1999.

"America's youth is getting the message that drugs can destroy their lives
and the lives of others," he said.

The main threats to young people now, McCaffrey said, are dramatic boosts in
the use of the stimulant drug ecstasy and steroids.

He said users of ecstasy, which first became popular in European dance
clubs, generally have feelings of euphoria and increases in blood pressure,
heart rate and body temperature.

"They think it's a hug drug, it's a dance-all-night, feel-good drug," he
said. But it also may permanently impair the brain's neurochemical
functions, McCaffrey said, adding, "Never mind the possibility of dropping
dead the first time you use it."

McCaffrey also said that steroid use is up, particularly among high school
athletes who want to improve their sports performance.

Along with increasing drug treatment options, McCaffrey's report listed four
other elements of the office's strategy:

*- Educating teenagers about the dangers of illegal drugs as well as alcohol
and tobacco.

*- Reducing drug-related crime and violence.

*- Protecting U.S. borders at airports, road crossings and seaports from
drug traffickers.

*- Cutting off foreign and domestic drug supply sources from places where
marijuana and coca plants are grown and from illegal drug manufacturing
plants.

McCaffrey, who will begin teaching a course on national security at the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., later this month, said he his
"tremendous faith" that President-elect George W. Bush will "make every
effort" to stem the use and availability of drugs in the United States.

"I'm sure he and his staff will take a hard look at our strategy, which is
good. But there is such general agreement on most of our efforts, I don't
think you'll see dramatic changes," he said.