CLINTON'S DRUG LEGACY: YOUNG ADULTS LEARNED TO INHALE

Yesterday the Clinton Administration tried to present the latest statistics
on drug use as good news, but there's bad news in there too. Drug use has
dropped significantly (21 percent during the last two years) among children
between the ages of 12 and 17, but it increased even more significantly (28
percent) among people between 18 and 25.

President Clinton is thumping his chest, pointing to the $1.3 billion of
taxpayer money including U.S. military aid he has committed to dumping into
Colombia to wage the never-ending battle against cocaine production. But as
long as there is a demand for a product, there will be a supply. Instead of
congratulating himself on fighting the supply, Clinton should reflect on how
he contributed to the demand for drugs among American young adults.

The people between 18 and 25 were between the ages of 10 and 17 when
President Clinton did his "smoke but didn't inhale" marijuana routine at the
stage of youth when it is so cute and popular with the MTV crowd. The 12-17
group was as young as 4. But as pre-teens and teens in 1992, today's young
adults learned that one can smoke pot, give the savvy public a smart-alec
snow-job about the technicalities of smoking vs. inhaling, and become
President of the United States anyway.

In part, that's true. Some people experiment with drugs and walk away
without suffering adverse affects. Perhaps because he made a deal with the
devil at some point in his life, Bill Clinton has proved he can do anything
and walk away without suffering adverse affects. But is this the kind of
example a Presidential candidate should be setting for pre-teens and teens?

Voters overlooked Clinton's baby-boomer flaws, a sign to many eyes that the
adult population of the United States had finally grown sophisticated,
cosmopolitan and tolerant about drug use, adultery, draft-dodging, you name
it. But was it fair to assume American pre-teens and teens were
sophisticated enough to understand Bill Clinton was an exception to the
rule, and that not every pot-smoker goes to Oxford, becomes a law professor,
and goes into politics?

Many drug users end up unemployed, homeless and sick. Was it fair of adults
to send that message to a generation of youth that is impressionable and
thinks it is invincible?

Clinton is trying to take credit for declining drug use among a group of
youngsters who were still in the playpen back when he first duped the
American people. We're not buying it. Statistics also show this group of
young people is engaging in less sexual activity on average. Let's see
Clinton try to take credit for that phenomenon.

If the 12-17 year olds of this country represent a backlash against the era
of Slick Willie and his rule-bending escapades, the future has never looked
brighter.