Pubdate: 5 Apr 1999
Source: Bristol Press (CT)
Copyright: 1999, The Bristol Press
Contact:  99 Main St., Bristol, CT 06010
Website: http://www.ctcentral.com/cgi-bin/w3com/start?ctcentral+BristolPress
Author: Danny Terwey

DRUG CZAR DIDN'T DESERVE JOHNSON'S PRAISE

Nancy Johnson's praise of Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey is uninformed and
undeserved. General McCaffrey is simply not a "straight-on, honest" person,
as evidenced by his comments on drug policies here and abroad.

While preparing for a fact-finding tour last summer, McCaffrey announced that:

"The murder rate in Holland is double that in the United States," and "The
overall crime rate in Holland is probably 40 percent higher than in the
United States. That's drugs."

In fact, the Dutch homocide rate is about one-fifth of our own, and other
crimes are less frequent, per capita.

When speaking of the possibility of industrial hemp production, McCaffrey
claimed that people were trying to "create a false issue for the purpose of
legalizing marijuana."

The general referred to medical marijuana as a "farce."

Now that medical specialists at the Institute of Medicine have concluded
that cannabis does, indeed, have therapeutic properties, he doesn't want to
talk about it anymore.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey is one of the least honest federal bureaucrats I can
think of. He avoids moderated debate at all costs, and it's a shame that
anyone at all listens to him. Why is our nation's foremost drug "authority"
a military general, instead of a medical doctor?

DANNY TERWEY
Santa Cruz, Calif. 
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