`Drug Czar' Stumps for U.S. Drug Policy

Drug "czar" General Barry R. McCaffrey last night touted the Clinton administration's success in reducing drug use among adolescents, in a speech at the Kennedy School of Government's ARCO forum.

But McCaffrey acknowledged the administration has faced pitfalls during his five-year tenure as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The visit to Harvard came three days after McCaffrey announced his intention to resign with the change in administration this January.

McCaffrey's speech, "The War on Drugs: A Report Card," touched on controversial issues involving drug treatment programs, international interdiction efforts and perceived racial discrepancies in domestic enforcement.

McCaffrey prefaced his remarks by calling the drug issue "by far the most difficult, the most important" of the issues he has addressed in his 40 year public service career.

Speaking in a manner many who attended described as forthright, McCaffrey reviewed arguments for a coherent drug policy.

"The drug issue is not that complex. The problem doesn't pose intellectual issues like poverty. The science of neurochemistry of the brain and chronic addiction is well understood," McCaffrey said.

McCaffrey expressed regret that he leaves his office as statistics show that drug use among those aged 18 to 25 is on the rise. He also noted that the economic costs of drug and alcohol abuse has grown steadily since 1985.

In terms of either human compassion or cost benefit analysis, the 5 million people chronically addicted to drugs pose an enormous problem to a successful and stable society, McCaffrey said.

What is needed, said McCaffrey, is a well-planned, non-partisan national drug policy.

"We cannot have a coherent drug policy without an emphasis on science instead of ideology," McCaffrey said.

Yet, many of the decisions of McCaffrey's White House Office of National Drug Control Policy have been embroiled in political controversy. Audience questions following the body of McCaffrey's speech centered on these controversial issues.

Questioners asked McCaffrey about his stance on needle exchange programs. Reportedly, McCaffrey's personal stance on needle programs impacted President Clinton's final decision not to fund the programs.

McCaffrey responded by clarifying the official federal position. While the federal government will not provide funds for these programs, which offer free clean needles to addicts, it will support the programs on the local level, he said. Needles are extremely cheap, and are an issue that can be adequately handled by mayors or other local administration.

On a personal level, McCaffrey said he was skeptical of the programs' merit. "Science supports needle exchange as an aspect that may help to draw people into other treatment. I have personally concluded that we are remiss in endorsing as social policy treatments that leave people in misery," McCaffrey said.

Audience members also asked McCaffrey about the United States' involvement in interdiction efforts in Latin America. The Clinton administration earmarked over $1.3 billion in new funds for assisting government counternarcotics efforts in Colombia in 2000. McCaffrey defended the policy as necessary to stem the flow of drugs to the United States.

"Colombia is in agony. They are a democracy, and they have all of these problems, and they are mostly caused by drugs and the hundreds of millions of bucks corrosively wearing away their security and stability," he said.

While audience members varied in their level of support of American drug policy, many felt that McCaffrey treated the matter in an intellectual manner.

"I was glad to hear him speak of drugs as a health problem more than as a criminal justice problem," said Alberto I. Glender, a Mexican native and a student at the Kennedy School "This health problem is translated into the biggest drug market in the world."

"Something I respected about the [McCaffrey's] speech was that he was not bashful to answer direct questions about controversial policy," said David S. Zlotlow, another student pursuing a master's degree. "I don't agree with some of his conclusions, but I felt that they seemed very well reasoned."

For one audience member at least, McCaffrey's words were reassuring. "It was interesting to see the perspective of the US government and people," Mara I. Hernandez said.

"In Mexico, where I'm from, we are protective of our sovereignty, and everybody always says we should take care of our own problem, and that the U.S. should take care of demand. It was reassuring to see McCaffrey focus on demand while still pushing for multinational action."