DRUG CZAR DOWNPLAYS DUTCH CRITICISM

After making the Dutch angry by calling their drug policy disastrous, U.S.
drug policy chief Barry McCaffrey is characterizing the debate as
adisagreement between friends. "Friends are allowed to disagree,"

McCaffrey said Monday in a press briefing. He returned over the weekend from
an eight-day trip to view treatment programs and drug-fighting efforts in
Sweden, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, England and the Netherlands.
McCaffrey's trip was overshadowed by comments he made a week earlier calling
Dutch policy an "unmitigated disaster." The comments prompted an outcry from
Dutch residents and a harsh letter to McCaffrey from the Dutch ambassador to
the United States.

In sharp contrast to the United States' zero tolerance drug policy, the
Dutch have a laissez-faire policy. Marijuana and hashish are technically
illegal, but the sale and consumption of small amounts of these drugs in
"coffee shops" are tolerated by Dutch authorities. Hard drugs like cocaine
and heroin cannot be sold that way, but are also cheap and easily available.

McCaffrey sought to downplay the incident Monday.

"There are areas of agreement between the Netherlands and the United
States," McCaffrey told reporters back on his home turf. "I listened very
carefully to their ideas." But he said U.S. treatment policy should be based
"not on ideology but on science."

McCaffrey said he was most impressed by the availability of methadone
treatments for heroin addicts and wants to increase this country's
capability to offer them. But he warned that they must be monitored closely
to prevent diversion into the mainstream population.

"It can kill you deader than a doornail if you take the normal dosage rate
for a heroin addict," he said.

The United States has an estimated 455,000 heroin addicts, with about
115,000 in methadone treatment at 800 clinics.

Copyright Los Angeles Times

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett