Pubdate: Mon, 23 Oct 2000
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2000 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  633 N.Orange Ave., Orlando, FL 32801
Fax: (407) 420-5286
Website: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Forum: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/interact/messageboards/
Author: Pedro Ruz Gutierrez

MCCAFFREY: POT IS A BURNING ISSUE

Advocates of medical marijuana are clever, White House drug-policy chief 
Barry McCaffrey told an Orlando audience Monday, but he predicted efforts 
to decriminalize hemp will fail nationally.

"These people are very smart," McCaffrey said of groups that have 
campaigned successfully for legalized marijuana use in at least seven 
states. "The initiatives are very compelling. Some of it looks like I wrote 
it."

Since 1996, voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Nevada, Oregon 
and Washington have approved use of marijuana as medicine. Hawaii joined 
the list this summer with a similar bill signed into law by its governor.

McCaffrey acknowledged that components of marijuana can provide relief to 
patients with pain, but said there is no evidence the drug cures anything 
or is a preferred method of treatment. He said the medical applications are 
a ruse used by pot advocates.

"We don't want it legalized or grown in the woods," said McCaffrey, who 
opposes any effort -- including a push to allow industrial production of 
hemp -- that might weaken the federal law that prohibits marijuana. "It's 
not going to happen, and the chances of getting that [federal law] repealed 
is zippo."

McCaffrey spoke before the umbrella group Treatment Accountability for 
Safer Communities (TASC), which gave him a leadership award at Orlando's 
Radisson Hotel.

The group emphasizes alternatives to prison for drug problems. McCaffrey 
urged members to organize and seek funding at the state level. He also 
encouraged counselors to continue helping addicted offenders "break the 
cycle" of repeat drug use and crime.

"That's a system we're trying to build on," McCaffrey said.

McCaffrey, a retired highly decorated four-star general, is leaving the 
drug post in January. Although early reviews of his tenure are mixed, his 
office cites a 26 percent decline in marijuana use among ages 12 to 17 
since 1998 as proof that its anti-drug media campaigns have worked.

The numbers are exactly the opposite for the 18 to 25 age group, which saw 
a 28 percent jump and poses a "worsening problem," he said.

McCaffrey's tough talk on marijuana has earned him harsh criticism from 
marijuana advocates.

David Borden, executive director of the Drug Reform Coordination Network, 
published an editorial on the Internet last week accusing McCaffrey of 
fostering "a destructive drug policy that goes so far as to persecute 
medical marijuana patients . . . "
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens