DRUG CZAR WANTS HELP FROM ATHLETES

MEMPHIS, Tenn.--The Clinton administration is Latest News pressing athletes
and coaches to speak out more strongly against drug use by children, the
head of the president's anti-drug office said Wednesday. Barry McCaffrey,
director of the Office of National Drug Policy, said Major League Soccer
and the NCAA will take part in a new "sports initiative," and other major
sports are expected to join.

The Florida Marlins, for example, soon will begin showing anti-drug ads on
their stadium billboard.

Those ads will be part of a $2 billion, five-year anti-drug media
campaign announced earlier this month by President Clinton. The government
will provide $175 million of that money with the rest to come from
corporations and philanthropic organizations.

After speaking to a group of youngsters in a summer sports program at the
University of Memphis, McCaffrey said his office is urging athletes to take
a greater responsibility as role models, particularly for younger
teen-agers.

"We're pretty sure that most children leave the fifth and sixth grades where
they've seen drugs but they're not really using them," he said. "And then
during those middle school years they get absolutely pushed into this peer
group pressure. By the time they're high school seniors, one out of four are
regularly using drugs."

McCaffrey's office also is urging the NBA and the players union to include
marijuana among the drugs players are tested for using, said Ron Housman, a
McCaffrey aide.

Housman said the NBA has a "marijuana loophole" in its player contract. If a
player is arrested for marijuana possession it sends the wrong message to
young sports fans, he said.

McCaffrey said the sports initiative, with the motto "Users Are Losers, Be a
Winner," will include TV and radio spots as well as public appearances by
coaches and athletes.

"We're going to talk to youngsters on television, radio, the internet,
billboards," McCaffrey said. "We'll make the argument that drugs will wreck
you physically, mentally and morally."

Major League Soccer has appointed Dante Washington of the Dallas Burn as its
anti-drug spokesman, and he accompanied McCaffrey to Memphis where an
NCAA-sponsored summer program is celebrating its 30th year.

"To be the best you can be ... you have to have your mind clear and your
body healthy," Washington said. "Drugs don't do anything but tear your body
down."

Copyright Los Angeles Times

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"