MCCAFFREY REMARK IRKS AMBASSADOR

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration's drug czar raised the ire of
the Dutch ambassador by criticizing the Netherlands' permissive drug laws.

Retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, who was traveling to Europe today on a
fact-finding tour, said the Netherlands' policy of letting its citizens use
marijuana and other soft drugs for therapeutic and recreational purposes
was "an unmitigated disaster."

The Dutch ambassador to the United States, Joris M. Vos, said he was
"confounded and dismayed" by McCaffrey's description of the Netherlands'
drug policy Thursday on CNN's "Talkback Live."

"I must say that I find the timing of your remarks, six days before your
planned visit to the Netherlands with a view to gaining firsthand knowledge
about Dutch drugs policy and its results, rather astonishing," Vos wrote
McCaffrey.

Drug policy spokesman Rob Housman said McCaffrey hoped the incident would
not affect the outcome of the trip.

McCaffrey planned to visit major European cities to underscore the need for
international cooperation on combating drugs, to look at European treatment
and prevention programs and to try to learn from other countries'
drug-fighting programs.

McCaffrey will visit Sweden, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland and England, as
well as the Netherlands, during the eight-day visit.

McCaffrey said two highlights of his trip will be a visit to the
headquarters of the United Nations Drug Control Program in Austria, where
he will exchange views with U.N. officials on global drug cooperation, and
to Portugal, where he will visit the European Monitoring Center.

In Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands he will tour drug treatment
facilities.

He said he wanted to learn from Swedish officials how to effectively
package treatment to help the 4 million chronic addicts in the United States.

"We've not yet built the infrastructure required to handle that problem in
a more rational way," he said. "It's one of the major shortcomings in the
United States."

Asked whether he plans to drop by coffee shops in the Netherlands that
openly sell marijuana and hashish, McCaffrey responded: "Coffee shops would
be a bad photo op. I'm not sure there's much to be learned by watching
somebody smoking pot."

McCaffrey will wrap up his visit with a brief stop in London on July 18.

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Checked-by: Mike Gogulski