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San Antonio, TX -- U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey says the nation is winning the war on drugs, but victory is being jeopardized by the medicinal marijuana movement. Addressing the Council of State Governments Annual Convention in San Antonio today, McCaffrey said, ``pain management is not best done with a joint and two vodkas.'' McCaffrey, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, says medicinal marijuana and so-called industrial hemp movements are ``silly and sad'' and that they represent an attempt to ``legalize all drugs, including marijuana, which poll after poll shows is opposed by 80 percent of the American public.'' He compared referendums on medicinal marijuana to holding local elections on ``FAA flight regulations.'' McCaffrey says another factor hindering a victory in the war on drugs is a disturbing increase in drug use among teenagers, including the use of heroin and methamphetamine. He says: ``Our children are using drugs again. The total percentage of Americans who use illegal drugs has dropped from 14 percent 15 years ago to 6 percent today. I'd like to cut that to less than 3 percent, but if we continue to tolerate pot smoking, cigarette use and alcohol consumption among young people, we will see a bubble of drug use rising again in this country.'' McCaffrey says his office will release next year a comprehensive plan to use high technology to interdict drugs coming across the southwestern border, including the use of radar to inspect trucks without having to stop and search them. Copyright 1998 United Press International In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings are made available without profit for research and educational purposes. |
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