BYE-BYE, BARRY

Gen. Barry McCaffrey: He came. He failed. He quit. But not without taking
an unearned victory lap. What is it about the job of drug czar that causes
its occupants to heed Sen. George Aiken's advice regarding the Vietnam War
- -- "Declare victory and withdraw"? That's what McCaffrey did this week when
he announced that he would resign his post on Jan. 6. "I'm enormously proud
of what we've done," crowed the general. "We had exploding rates of
adolescent drug use, and we've reduced it." This ludicrous assessment
echoed Bill Bennett's upbeat tenor as he ended his stint as drug czar in
1990, predicting that drug use would be cut in half "in five years."

The truth is, in the decade since Bennett whistled past the drug-war
graveyard, things have gone from bad to abysmal. Despite McCaffrey's
repeated claims that "we are winning" the fight, the use of illegal drugs
by junior high kids has increased by 300 percent; it's easier than ever for
high school students to get drugs; drug prices are at an all-time low, and
drug purity is climbing.

This is an impressive litany of failures. But still more damning is
McCaffrey's unequivocal success in convincing both the president and
Congress to approve $1.3 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia,
dragging the United States into a three-way civil war. McCaffrey's
"triumph" is already looking like a disaster. According to the General
Accounting Office, in a report to Congress last week, "the Colombian
government has not demonstrated it has the detailed plans, management
structure and funding necessary" to implement the U.S. aid.

McCaffrey's other major claim to shame during his tenure has been the
massive escalation of our government's billion-dollar anti-drug media
campaign. Despite the saturation of our airwaves with ads designed to
promote the horrors of illegal drug use, research indicates that a rising
number of young people see less harm in using drugs.

Yet President Clinton responded to McCaffrey's resignation by singling out
as a sign of the "significant progress" made under the drug czar the fact
that "we have dramatically increased our counter-drug spending and launched
a $1 billion public-private media campaign to educate young people about
the dangers of drug use." As if the mere act of throwing good money after
bad represents sound drug policy.

As Kevin Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy, put it: "Gen.
McCaffrey clearly preferred funding TV commercials to investing in
America's youth. We are spending nearly twice as much on the ad campaign,
the glittering jewel in his drug-war crown, than the federal government
spends on after-school programs for kids -- even though research shows
alternative activity programs to be the most effective way to prevent
adolescent drug abuse." This is more like a war on common sense -- which
we're definitely winning.

Making misguided matters worse, McCaffrey was asleep at the wheel this
spring when fraud investigators uncovered evidence that Ogilvy & Mather,
the ad agency handling the account, may have seriously over-billed the
government for its services -- pumping up its labor charges and doctoring
time sheets. Instead of ordering an audit, the good general tried to cover
his rear flank, denying that he knew anything about the problem until
investigators produced a memo proving McCaffrey had, in fact, been told of
the irregularities. As McCaffrey moves on to the requisite book and
speaking tour, the matter remains under criminal investigation.

A fast-and-loose way with the truth has been a hallmark of the drug czar's
office -- with fraudulent claims and blatant manipulation of statistics a
standard operating procedure. Take the statistical sleight of hand
McCaffrey's office recently used to turn an unambiguous failure into an
apparent success: In 1996, the general set a goal of having 80 percent of
young people -- based on the perception of 12th-graders -- consider drugs
harmful. But despite his ad blitz, the percentage of 12th-graders who
looked unfavorably on drugs actually dropped for three straight years,
falling to 57.4 percent by 1999 -- a far cry from the promised 80 percent.

But this year, the drug czar magically pulled a vastly improved 74 percent
drug-disapproval rating out of his hat. How did he do it? Simple. He just
changed the rules. He based his latest figures not on the perceptions of
12th-graders but on the opinions of 8th-graders. I'm only surprised that
McCaffrey didn't make sure he hit his goal by switching to kindergartners.
I have a feeling well over 80 percent of them would agree that drugs are
"icky."

And like all good illusionists, McCaffrey never revealed how the trick was
done -- the switch in criteria wasn't noted anywhere in the Drug Office's
published report. This is not only misleading, it may also be illegal since
Public Law No. 105-277 requires that when a government agency changes its
measuring standards, it must inform Congress.

In announcing his resignation, McCaffrey declared that the fight against
drugs "is not a war; it's a cancer affecting American communities." After
steering a billion dollars into the hands of the Colombian army and
spearheading the use of paramilitary tactics here at home -- with more
armed drug agents, drug raids and drug arrests -- has McCaffrey suddenly
seen the light, at long last realizing that drugs are actually a public
health issue? Or is he merely trying to rewrite his failed history before
anyone else gets to?