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
