HOUSE GOP OFFERING ANTI-DRUG PLAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - Six months before the midterm elections, the two
political parties are at war over the war on drugs.

With House Republicans planning a splashy Capitol steps ceremony for
Thursday to unveil a series of anti-drug proposals, administration
officials hastily arranged an appearance today for Barry McCaffrey, head
the administration's Office of Drug Control Policy.

And House Democrats decided to hold a news conference on Wednesday, where
they are expected to criticize Republicans for voting to cut anti-drug
programs in the past.

The jockeying comes at a time when both parties are attempting to gain the
upper hand over the issue of drugs in advance of elections at which
Republicans will be defending a narrow 11-seat majority in the House.

For their part, Republicans are expected to offer a series of proposals
designed to cut down on supply as well as demand for drugs and impose new
performance criteria on McCaffrey's office.

Their hope is to deliver a ``unified, consistent no-use message,'' said one
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. House Speaker Newt Gingrich
is scheduled to attend, along with Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., leader of a
task force that Gingrich created to fashion a Republican agenda on the
issue. Republicans also have arranged for a member of the gold-medal
winning women's U.S. Olympics hockey team to be present.

Republican officials said their proposals call for doubling an existing $10
million program for communities to devise anti-drug strategies, as well as
a new pilot program to help small and medium-sized businesses fight drugs
in the workplace. Officials said companies with 100 or fewer employees
would be eligible to apply for grants, but they provided no details on the
amount of money Republicans will propose for the effort.

Another proposal would cut off federally backed student loans for
recipients convicted of possessing or trafficking in drugs. Offenders could
regain their loans after a year following completion of a counseling
program, according to officials.

Republicans also will propose increased money for construction of a fence
along the southwestern border. They will call for more than doubling the
number of U.S. Customs Service border guards by 2002 - far more than the
administration's proposal for an increase of 1,000 personnel.

Another measure would increase penalties for anyone convicted of
drug-related offenses caught at the border. Yet another would require life
imprisonment for anyone convicted of trafficking in methamphetamines.

Officials said they had no immediate details on the precise cost of these
measures, or on how they would be financed.

While some of these measure are not yet fully drafted, Republicans will
push one bill to the House floor this week.

It would ban the direct or indirect use of federal money for needle
exchange programs for addicts.

The Clinton administration announced last week it would refuse to use
federal tax dollars to buy clean needles for drug addicts, even though it
said needle exchanges fight AIDS without encouraging illegal drug use.

Half of all people who catch HIV are infected by needles or by sex with
injecting drug users, or are children of infected addicts.

Republican officials say their measure is designed to deny funding to
recipients that use their own money to finance needle exchange programs.

They say they expect their ban to clear the House comfortably. But the
debate is expected to be lively. House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, for
example, is expected to oppose the measure.

As for the White House, one senior official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said McCaffrey will urge corporate sponsors such as Nike to make
sure that sports figures who appear in their commercials are drug free.
This could be accomplished by inserting anti-drug requirements into
endorsement contracts, this official added.

The National Basketball Association will be asked to come up with a strong
policy against marijuana use, this official said, and coaches will be urged
to develop anti-drug messages for use in their work with kids.

Copyright 1997 The Associated Press