CLINTON'S ANTI-DRUGS ADVISER REPORTS 'SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS'

WASHINGTON (AP) - White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey says "substantial
progress" has been made in the fight against illegal drugs during the past
year, with declines in youth drug use and drug-related crime.

But in remarks prepared for delivery Thursday to a congressional committee,
McCaffrey says heroin has become more popular among young people, and
methamphetamines have a "serious potential nationally to become the next
'crack' cocaine epidemic."

A copy of McCaffrey's statement on the first of what is to be an annual
report on the state of the nation's anti-drug effort was made available to
The Associated Press on Tuesday.

"The nation working together has made substantial progress in confronting
illegal drug abuse and drug trafficking," McCaffrey said. "In the report,
we show that youth drug use dropped 13 percent lastyear, overall cocaine
use is down, methamphetamine seizures are dramatically up and drug crime
and drug-related murders are dropping."

He also said efforts to curb production abroad are working. Peru and
Bolivia, formerly the top two suppliers of U.S. cocaine, "have reduced coca
cultivation by 66 percent and 55 percent respectively," he said.

Still, more must be done to combat heroin and methamphetamine abuse, and
"we must confront skyrocketing drug production in Colombia - 90 percent of
the cocaine in the United States and most of the heroin on the Eastern
seaboard originate in or transit through that troubled nation," he said.

Methamphetamine "remains one of the most dangerous substances America has
ever confronted," McCaffrey said.

Overall, though, "For those who say this is a war, we are winning."