MCCAFFREY TO STRESS CONTINUITY IN FINAL DRUG REPORT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey,
issuing his final anti-drug report on Thursday, will stress the need for
President-elect George W. Bush to maintain the national strategy that he
has pursued.

McCaffrey is to appear at the White House to release his last annual report
before stepping down as head of President Clinton's Office of National Drug
Control Policy.

"The nation working together is making substantial progress in confronting
illegal drug abuse and drug trafficking," McCaffrey said in a statement
ahead of his appearance.

McCaffrey will say that under his stewardship, the war on drugs has paid
off, with teen drug use down 21 percent in the past two years, overall drug
use on the decline and the number of drug-related crimes and murders
plummeting.

He will call for continuity in the national drug strategy, a clear appeal
for Bush to pursue the anti-drug effort aggressively.

While naming members of his Cabinet and other top-level positions, Bush has
yet to name a new drug policy director to replace McCaffrey, a retired general.

McCaffrey is also expected to announce that Jacksonville, Fla., and Las
Vegas, Nevada, will be declared high intensity drug trafficking areas,
making them a focal point for a joint anti-drug effort between federal,
state and local law enforcement agencies.

The law enforcement agencies will share evidence and information to
confront drug trafficking and money-laundering organizations.

McCaffrey will also add a new objective to the U.S. anti-drug effort,
devoting more resources to treatment programs for drug abusers.

The no-nonsense general was instrumental in developing an aid package for
Colombia, $1.3 billion in mostly military assistance, to try to stop the
source of much of America's illicit cocaine and heroin trade.

A key issue for the incoming Bush administration will be whether to
continue funding this plan, in which U.S. military advisers are training
special Colombian battalions in fighting the drug trade, and indirectly,
leftist guerrillas who protect and profit from the trafficking.

Bush, whose home state of Texas shares a long border with Mexico, has made
clear he would devote more time and attention to Latin America while he is
president.