- - Elizabeth Dole

LACONIA, N.H. (AP) -- If Elizabeth Dole has her way, she will be the next
woman in the White House telling Americans to "Just Say No" to illegal drugs.

During her latest campaign visit to the state with the earliest primary, the
Republican presidential hopeful criticized the Clinton administration
Saturday for missing an opportunity to fight drugs.

Mrs. Dole suggested President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore had not
tackled the issue because public opinion didn't warrant it.

Mrs. Dole has criticized the administration before for placing too much
emphasis on public sentiment for other issues, such as the Kosovo crisis.

"The pollsters will tell you drugs are not very high on people's priority
lists. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't get my passion from polling," Mrs. Dole
told a crowd at a local Republican picnic. "This is a cancer on our society.
How can we not have it as a top priority?"

Clinton has lacked the leadership that former first lady Nancy Reagan
exhibited with her anti-drug campaign in the 1980s, Mrs. Dole said.

"I think 'Just Say No' worked, no question. In fact drug use went down when
Nancy Reagan's program was underway. And then in '92, we saw a reversal,"
she later said after a tour of the Concord Boys and Girls Club in Concord.

Her experience with the Coast Guard's drug interdiction efforts while she
was transportation secretary gave her valuable experience fighting the
supply side of a war on drugs, Mrs. Dole said. She said she also would
emphasize education and treatment.