FEDS TO ASSESS DRUG PROBLEM

NEW BEDFORD -- City officials and the Office of National Drug Control
Policy have agreed on a date for a team from the national drug czar's
office to visit the whaling city.

The office's Acting Assistant Director Dennis Greenhouse and five
other federal officials will spend July 22 and 23 in New Bedford
meeting with local leaders and the public, according to Mayor
Frederick M. Kalisz Jr.'s spokeswoman, Bernadette Coelho.

"We plan to put together a public meeting on one of the two evenings,"
she said, "but we really haven't ironed out any of the details yet."

The team will include representatives from White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Department of Justice and the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Mr. Greenhouse said. The
participants will interview local officials and hold meetings to
assess the status of the city's drug problems.

A similar visit to Youngstown, Ohio last year helped that city secure
a crime-fighting grant, according to city officials in Youngstown.

The outcome of this outreach to New Bedford will depend on what kind
of resources and outlook the federal team brings to the table, New
Bedford Police Arthur Kelly Jr. said.

The unusual visit by the federal drug experts was sparked by a
conversation between Mr. Kalisz and Drug Czar Barry R. McCaffrey at
the White House last winter. Mayor Kalisz asked the federal official
for help combating New Bedford's drug problems.

Based in the White House, ONDCP coordinates federal, state, and local
efforts to control illegal drug abuse and devises national strategies
to carry out anti-drug activities. The agency's goals includes
reducing the availability and use of illegal drugs by 50 percent.

ONDCP officials have said they plan to look at the way drug treatment
is provided in the community, the extent and nature of drug prevention
activities and the extent of task force cooperation between federal,
state and local law enforcement.