Statistics flaunted by drug czar Barry McCaffrey regarding alleged
Dutch homicide and marijuana-usage rates are purposely misleading and
inaccurate. While it is unfortunate that a high-ranking U.S. official
would stoop to malign Dutch drug policies, it is equally disturbing
that a major newspaper such as The Washington Times would repeat those
inaccuracies.

There were a total of 193 homicides in the Netherlands in 1995,
according to the Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics. This
equates to a murder rate of approximately 1.3 per 100,000. This figure
is significantly less than America's 8.3 per 100,000 and nowhere near
the 17.58 per 100,000 claimed by Gen. McCaffrey.

According to the 1996 annual survey data compiled by the University of
Michigan's Monitoring the Future project, 45 percent of American high
school seniors admit they have tried marijuana - not 9.1 percent, as
Gen. McCaffrey claims. This percentage is far greater than the number
of Dutch 12th graders who admit to having tried marijuana. Gen.
McCaffrey's data misleads the public by comparing the percentage of
American teens who use marijuana monthly to the percentage of Dutch
teen-agers who have ever tried marijuana.

The Dutch overwhelmingly approve of their current marijuana policies.
These policies seek to normalize rather than dramatize marijuana use
and eliminate marijuana users from the hard-drug market. If Gen.
McCaffrey believes that America's policy of arresting and jailing more
than 12 million marijuana users since 1965 is more effective than the
Netherlands's system, he should find no need to distort the facts and
lie to the American people.

Paul Armentano Publications director National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws Washington