NEW ANTI-DRUG STRATEGY ANNOUNCED

Government: The plan focuses on accountability in trying to cut the nation's
drug problem in half.

Washington-Hammering home the need for a drug-control strategy that
measures success and failure, the Clinton administration is announcing
a five-part plan designed to cut the nation's drug problem in half by
2007.

In a report to Congress, White House drug policy director Barry
McCaffrey said drugs claim more than 14,000 lives in the country
annually, despite a nationwide effort that included almost $18 billion
in 1998 from the federal government.

Such a societal toll is unacceptable, McCaffrey said, and it prompted
the administration's goal: reducing the use and availability of drugs
by 50 percent by 2007, 25 percent by 2002. Realization of the goal
would mean that just 3 percent of the U.S. population 12 and older
would be using illegal drugs. The current figure is 6.4 percent.

With President Clinton attending the funeral of Jordan's King Hussein,
formal presentation of the plan today was being handled by Vice
President Al Gore and McCaffrey. Advance copies were made available
Sunday evening.

A major piece of the drug-control effort: an ad campaign that
generates more than $195 million a year in matching contributions from
media companies.

A cornerstone of the strategy is accountability for the wide array of
current anti-drug programs, with boosts for those that work and a
swift identification and repair process for those that aren't
producing results.

FIVE-STEP PLAN

Vice President Al Gore will unveil today a five-part plan to cut drug
use in half in the next five years. Those parts:

Educating children

Decreasing the addicted population

Breaking the cycle of drugs and crime

Securing the nation's borders against drugs

Reducing the supply of drugs