DRUG CHIEF MITIGATES SLAP AT DUTCH AFTER TOUR

McCaffery Softens His Criticism of Drug Policies

Less than two weeks ago, White House drug policy chief Barry R. McCaffrey
sparked an international stir by attacking Dutch drug-fighting policies as
"an unmitigated disaster." Yesterday, he offered a new description of their
efforts: "very impressive."

McCaffrey is still no fan of the permissive Dutch attitude toward
marijuana, and he was appalled by a "heroin provision" experiment for
addicts he saw during a one-day dash through the Netherlands last week. But
he said he was pleasantly surprised by aggressive Dutch efforts to rein in
drug smuggling, "drug tourism" and drug-related violence.

He even said that the United States could learn a great deal from the
expansive Dutch approach to funding drug treatment, especially methadone
programs for heroin users.

"I am envious of their ability to deliver drug treatment and health care to
heroin addicts," said McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy. "Our program is inadequate in coverage."

It was quite a change of tune for McCaffrey, who made front-page news in
the Netherlands with his "unmitigated disaster" comment during a July 9
appearance on a CNN talk show. McCaffrey said on the program that Dutch
acceptance of marijuana as a harmless "soft drug" has fueled dramatic
increases in crime and warned that official toleration of nearly 1,200
"cannabis clubs" in the Netherlands was setting a terrible example for
Europe. The Dutch ambassador to the United States, Joris Vos, responded
that he was "confounded and dismayed" by McCaffrey's remarks.

McCaffrey, a four-star general who served with distinction in the Vietnam
War and the Persian Gulf War, has courted controversy since President
Clinton named him to lead America's war on drugs in 1996. He was a bitter
critic of needle exchange programs, then muted his criticism somewhat after
Clinton endorsed them as a useful tool against AIDS. He praised Mexico's
top anti-drug official, Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, as "an honest man,"
then professed shock when Gutierrez was arrested in a corruption sting
after just 10 weeks in office.

Yesterday, in a news conference about his week-long swing through six
European countries, McCaffrey acknowledged that he had overstepped with his
"unmitigated disaster" criticism of the Dutch. "In a more balanced vein,
I'd suggest that there are areas of agreement and areas of disagreement,"
he said. "Friends can disagree with friends."

Dutch officials yesterday said they welcomed his more conciliatory tone. "I
think he made a good visit and learned a lot," said embassy spokeswoman
Madelien DePlanque. "He doesn't agree with everything we do, but he's
entitled to an opinion."

McCaffrey visited a methadone program in Amsterdam and said he came away
impressed by the ease with which Dutch heroin addicts can get treatment. In
America, he said, methadone clinics are few and far between, and addicts
who do find them often face a maze of bureaucratic obstacles; only 115,000
of the estimated 800,000 U.S. heroin addicts currently get methadone.

McCaffrey also said he now believes that the Dutch are doing an "excellent
job" cracking down on serious drug crimes and getting tough with
"drug-dazed" foreign tourists who visit the country for its
marijuana-selling "coffee shops."

But McCaffrey is not quite ready for America to go Dutch when it comes to
drug abuse. He criticized the toleration of cannabis clubs as "legal
hypocrisy." He distributed statistics indicating dramatic across-the-board
increases in crime and drug-related deaths in the Netherlands since 1978.
He said he was disturbed by his visit with Rotterdam scientists who are
dispensing heroin to 750 addicts. And he warned that "this beautiful,
clean, quiet little country" has become a production and distribution hub
for much of the European drug trade.

"They just haven't connected their problems to their attitudes towards drug
abuse," McCaffrey said. "They seem to think marijuana is benign. It's not
benign."

McCaffrey refused to visit a cannabis club, explaining that he already
knows what people look like when they smoke pot. But he's done calling
Dutch policy an "unmitigated disaster."

"You can say it's a mitigated disaster," he said.

Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)