NEW U.S. DRUG-CONTROL STRATEGY SETS GOALS

Plan is to cut use in half by 2007

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

In a three-volume report to Congress, White House drug policy director
Barry McCaffrey said drugs cost the country more than 14,000 lives
annually, despite a nationwide effort that includes close to $18 billion
spent this year by the federal government.

President Clinton said that while "there is some encouraging progress in
the struggle against drugs ... the social costs of drug use continue to
climb."

In a message to Congress, Clinton said that among the positive signs are a
growing view among young people that drugs are risky and a continuing
decline in cocaine production overseas.

The five parts of the administration plan

I Strategy Sets Goals are educating children, decreasing the addicted
population, breaking the cycle of drugs and crime, securing the nation's
borders from drugs and reducing the supply of drugs.

The blend of strategies is designed to reduce the use and availability of
drugs by 25 percent by 2002 and 50 percent by 2007. Achieving the goal
would mean just 3 percent of the U.S. household population ages 12 and over
would be using illegal drugs. The current figure is 6.4 percent. In 1979,
the rate was near 15 percent.

With Clinton attending the funeral of Jordan's King Hussein, formal
presentation of the plan was being handled by McCaffrey and Vice President
Al Gore.

A major piece of the drug-control effort: an advertising campaign that
generates more than S195 million a year in matching contributions from
media companies.

"The strategy seeks to involve parents, coaches, mentors, teachers, clergy
and other role models in a broad prevention campaign," said McCaffrey, head
of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

A cornerstone of the strategy is accountability for the wide array of
anti-drug programs, with boosts for those that work and the ability to
identify swiftly and repair those that are not producing results.

The goals for the period ending in 2007 are to reduce the rate of crime
associated with drug trafficking and use by 30 percent, and reducing the
health and social costs associated with drugs by 25 percent.

McCaffrey also wants to expand alternatives to jail for drug users - an
approach based on studies showing that prisoners who get treatment are far
less likely to commit new crimes than those who do not.