CLINTON'S DRUG ADVISER BOOED IN BRITAIN

Protesters jeered President Clinton's chief adviser on drugs Monday when he
went to the University of London with his British counterpart to launch an
Internet site to combat drug abuse.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey left the university's Goldsmith College with
placard-waving demonstrators pursuing his car and shouting denunciations of
his tough policy on drugs. McCaffrey came to Britain on Sunday to begin a
four-nation European tour. He maintains cocaine is not a soft drug, and
that Europeans should do more to block the flow of drugs of Latin America.

Transform, the group that organized the protest, said it feared McCaffrey's
visit reflected a hardening stance by Prime Minister Tony Blair's
government against drugs. Transform promotes what members call ''a sensible
drug policy.'' It supports the legalization of marijuana, but stops short
of calling for the decriminalization of all drugs.

Transform spokesman Steve Rolles said the United States had the world's
most punitive anti-drugs strategy and the world's worst problem with drugs.

"The government has nothing to learn from Barry McCaffrey. They should not
be exporting the U.S. drug policy. We should be looking to other far more
progressive regimes," said Rolles.

McCaffrey and Britain's Anti-Drugs Coordinator Keith Hellawell, whose
appointment was modeled on the White House post, launched ResourceNet, an
information Web site funded partly by the British government for
professionals dealing with drug abuse.

McCaffrey said every country should develop its own drug policies.

"The Dutch are remarkably civilized, homogenous people in a small area," he
said of The Netherlands' relatively liberal drug laws.

"Their approach might not be appropriate for us. We think the approach we
are now trying is reflected in dramatically reduced rates of drug abuse."