What did he snort and when did he snort it?
Last Update Mon Jul 20 19:32:07 PDT 1998
E D I T O R I A L
What did he snort and when did he snort
it? Americans well might wonder what to
make of the stories that Bill Clinton's drug
use went far beyond just puffing on a joint
or two. The stories are easy to disregard -
except insofar as they provide the missing
motive for an unquestionable scandal: the
president's terrible record in fighting
drugs.
Two years ago, Sen. Lauch Faircloth,
R-N.C., said: ''If any credible evidence
surfaces concerning drug use by President
Clinton while he was governor of
Arkansas, it would be a national scandal.''
A lot of testimony has bubbled up. But is it
credible?
Sally Perdue, a former Miss Arkansas and
Little Rock talk show host who said she
had an affair with then-Gov. Clinton in
1983, told the London Sunday Telegraph
that he once came over to her house with
a bag full of cocaine. ''He had all the
equipment laid out, like a real pro.''
Gennifer Flowers says she saw Clinton
smoke marijuana and carry joints with him
when he first began visiting her in 1977.
Clinton was Arkansas' attorney general
from 1977 through 1979. His first term as
governor ran from 1979 through 1981. He
was governor again from 1983 through
1992.
Two Arkansas state troopers have sworn
under oath that they have seen Clinton
''under the influence'' of drugs when he
was governor.
Sharlene Wilson is a bartender who is
serving time on drug crimes and has
cooperated with drug investigators. She
told a federal grand jury she saw Clinton
and his younger brother ''snort'' cocaine
together in 1979.
Jack McCoy, a Democratic state
representative and Clinton supporter,
told the Sunday Telegraph that he could
''remember going into the governor's
conference room once and it reeked of
marijuana.''
Historian Roger Morris, in his book
''Partners in Power,'' quotes several
law enforcement officials who say they
had seen and knew of Clinton's
drug use.
On a videotape made in 1983-84 by local
narcotics officers, Roger Clinton said
during a cocaine buy: ''Got to get some for
my brother. He's got a nose like a vacuum
cleaner.''
One-time apartment manager Jane Parks
claims that in 1984 she could listen
through the wall as Bill and Roger Clinton,
in a room adjoining hers, discussed the
quality of the drugs they were taking.
R. Emmett Tyrrell, editor of American
Spectator magazine, has tried to
track down rumors that Clinton suffered an
overdose at one point. The incident
supposedly occurred after the young
politician lost the governorship in 1980 and
fell into an emotional tailspin.
Tyrrell asked emergency room workers at
the University of Arkansas Medical Center
if they could confirm the incident. He
didn't get a flat ''no'' from the hospital staff.
One nurse said, ''I can't talk about that.''
Another said she feared for her life if she
spoke of the matter.
The president himself has helped fuel
suspicions of an overdose or some other
drug problem by refusing to make his full
medical records public.
It's easy to see the weak spots in these
accounts. Some are just hearsay, and
many come from very questionable
characters. Few prosecutors would try to
use any of them as evidence in court. This
may be why the scandal of which Faircloth
spoke seems to have such a long fuse.
Yet President Clinton himself has done as
much as any critic to keep the issue alive.
In carrying out his presidential duty to
enforce drug laws, he has waved
the white flag. In hiring White House staff,
he has shown extreme tolerance for
recent drug use. In talking to the young
about drugs, he has spoken irresponsibly.
In short, its not at all clear, even now, if
our president takes the issue of drugs
seriously.
Consider how he dodged the drug
question over the years. In 1986,
when asked if he had ever used drugs,
Clinton responded he hadn't. In
1989, when asked if he had used illegal
drugs while an adult in Arkansas, he said
he ''never violated the drug laws of the
state.''
The question was narrowed in 1991 to
whether he had tried marijuana in
college. ''No,'' he said, adding: ''That's the
question you asked, and I'll give you the
answer.'' That same year, Clinton told the
National Press Club he hadn't violated
state or federal drug laws.
Only in 1992, when asked directly if he had
smoked marijuana while in graduate
school or if he had violated international
drug laws, did Clinton finally fess up. ''I've
never broken a state law, but when I was
in England I experimented with marijuana
a time or two, and I didn't like it. I didn't
inhale it, and never tried it again.'' So why
didn't he just say that in the first place?
''Nobody's ever asked me that question
point blank,'' he
said.
These mealy-mouthed explanations and
non-denial denials are mirrored in White
House policies that were negligent or
worse. The Secret Service reports that
more than 40 staffers brought in by Clinton
had such serious (and recent) drug
problems that they had to enter a
special testing program for security
reasons.
Clinton himself has equivocated on the
issue. Through his first three years in
office, he was nearly silent on the subject
of illegal drugs. And in his now-infamous
appearance on MTV, he joked about them.
Asked if he would ''inhale'' if he had all to
do over again, he said, ''Sure, I would
if I could. I tried before.'' We doubt if he
would make such jokes about
children smoking cigarettes.
The real tragedy here is that Clinton
inherited a successful anti- drug
strategy. In the '80s and early '90s, former
drug czar Bill Bennett notes, ''America saw
an astonishing reduction in drug use:
down more than 50% between 1979 . . .
and 1992, with a reduction of almost 80%
in cocaine use between 1985 (the peak for
cocaine) and 1992.''
Yet candidate Clinton blasted President
Bush for not fighting ''a real drug war.''
After winning, Clinton showed what he
meant by a ''real'' war: Downgrading
enforcement of drug laws and treating the
use of illegal drugs as a medical, not a
moral, issue. On the books, drugs like
cocaine were still illegal, but his
enforcement amounted to de facto
legalization. Treatment and tolerance
became his watchwords.
The ''Just Say No'' days were over. Instead
of working to harden social attitudes
against illegal drugs and discouraging
first-time use - the great achievement of
Reagan-Bush drug policy - Clinton decided
to pour money into treatment for hard-core
addicts. His failure to police the first-use
gateway ensures that there will be plenty
of addicts to treat, for a long time.
''I have never, never, never seen a
president who cares less about this
issue,'' said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
Clinton has since buried an administration-
sponsored drug study that declared his
policy a failure. He also has buried a
memo from Drug Enforcement Agency
head Thomas Constantine and FBI director
Louis Freeh that blasted White House drug
policies.
The two top cops warned that the country
is ''lacking any true leadership.'' Worse, ''if
firm new action isn't taken soon,'' we will
face ''a national nightmare that will kill
and maim and terrorize our people in
perpetuity.''
The numbers back them up:
Monthly drug use among teenagers is up
78% since 1992, jumping 33% last year
alone.
Marijuana use has increased 37% between
1994 and 1995 and more than doubled
since 1992.
Monthly cocaine use by teens has
exploded, rising 166% in the last
year.
The University of Michigan's Monitoring
the Future Study, which tracks drug use
among teens, found that they don't believe
drugs are a dangerous as they did in the
'80s. High school seniors who see ''great
risk,'' for instance, fell from 78.6% in 1991
to 60.8% in 1995.
This comes at a time when two highly
dangerous and addictive drugs, heroin
and methamphetamine, are back in
vogue.
As the election drew near, Clinton had one
of his convenient conversions - up to a
point, at least. More drug enforcement
funding, renewed White House drug
testing and tough talk from the new drug
czar are all welcome steps. But can they
make up for the attitude problem that
Clinton has done so much to create?
And how long will Gen. Barry McCaffrey
stay as drug czar? Will he get the needed
support - fiscal, political, moral - from the
Oval Office after Nov. 5? Judging from
Clinton's past record on election-time
promises, McCaffrey should not plan on a
long stay.
Election-year flip-flop aside, Clinton has
failed to use his great rhetorical gifts - and
the persuasive power of his office - to
good effect here. Even teen-agers listen to
what the president says. When the
president jokes about smoking marijuana,
they take the whole issue of drugs and
drug laws much less seriously.
Wayne Roques, a former DEA agent, said,
''Since Clinton took office, I haven't gone
to one school where some of the kids
didn't laugh at drugs because of the
president's comments.''
For a president who prides himself on
feeling the people's pain and grasping
their needs, in this area he has been
woefully out of touch.
On this front Clinton has, conspicuously,
failed to protect kids - who don't know any
better - and to support parents.
Copyright 1996 Investors Business Daily
10-30-96
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