WASHINGTON In what will be his last annual report, U.S. drug Czar Barry McCaffrey on Thursday warned of an explosion in ecstasy and anabolic steroid use among young people.

According to an AFP report, some 1.27 million doses of ecstasy were confiscated in 1999, surging from 92,000 in 1997, according to the report, which noted that the number of ecstasy users has doubled since 1995.

About a third of adolescents in the United States admit to having friends who consume the drug, which often originates from underground laboratories in the Netherlands.

The use of anabolic steroids among the younger set is also on the rise, with 3.5 percent of adolescents using them regularly, up from two percent three years ago.

McCaffrey insisted, however, that efforts made by the Clinton administration have had a positive impact, with overall teenage drug use sliding 21 percent in the past two years.

Drug use in the general population has fallen by 50 percent in the past 20 years, and drug-related crimes have also decreased, he said.

McCaffrey attributed the positive results to a strategy that combines drug-suppression efforts with prevention. He said he expects Republican President-Elect George W. Bush's administration to employ the same strategy.

"I think it is due for a relook," McCaffrey said. "But I can't imagine that there isn't a widespread unanimity of view that we need to continue working on prevention education and treatment issues as well as multinational cooperation."

"This has been a bipartisan, congressionally supported effort with significant enhancement and resources," he said, "So I am very upbeat about the new team."