RENO WANTS INMATE DRUG TREATMENT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Declaring the nation cannot arrest its way out of the
drug problem, two Cabinet secretaries urged public support Tuesday for
President Clinton's proposal to allow states to use prison construction
money for drug treatment.

They said "zero tolerance" for drugs in prison, along with vigorous
testing, extensive treatment and consistent follow-through once prisoners
are released from jail will lower rates of both addiction and crime.

"We need to speak clearly to the American people and let them know that
treatment and testing does work," Attorney General Janet Reno told a
national conference on drug addiction and crime.

"We have a twofold policy: `Zero tolerance but maximum assistance,"' said
Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. "Because frankly, when a
drug user actually lands in prison, we have a unique opportunity to get
them into treatment, to break their addiction and to break the cycle of
drugs, violence and criminality."

"It's almost a no-brainer," said Barry McCaffrey, who convened the
conference in his current role as the administration's director of
drug-control policy. "We need a tough love approach."

The three administration officials sought to rally support for a Clinton
initiative to earmark $200 million in the next federal budget to identify
prison drug users through testing and to make sure drug users get treatment.

Clinton also asked that all states report on the level of drug use in their
prisons and that they be allowed to use prison construction money for drug
testing and treatment.

Their calls for bipartisan approval of the proposals on Capitol Hill
followed by a day the release of a Justice Department survey of people on
probation from jail sentences. It found that nearly half of the
probationers had been drinking or taking drugs or both at the time of their
crimes.

Another Justice Department study released in January showed that more than
60 percent of adult men arrested for an array of crimes tested positive for
at least one drug.

A study by the Federal Bureau of Prisons of recently released inmates who
had received drug treatment in prison indicated that they were less likely
to be rearrested or return to drugs.

"We know that drug users who undergo testing and treatment while in prison
are twice as likely to stay drug free -- and to stay crime free," Shalala
said.

Reno said: "To do just incarceration is not going to work. To do just
prevention and treatment, that's not going to work either. We need a
balanced approach."