REVAMPED DRUG POLICY PLANNED

The cornerstone of Clinton's plan is keeping young people from trying them.

WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration estimates the number of people using
illegal drugs would be cut by half during the next 10 years under a
revamped drug-control strategy that focuses more on youths from 9 to 19.

The initiative is reflected in the administration's $17.1 billion
drug-control budget request for next year, a 6.8 percent increase from
various federal agencies, including the departments of Defense, Education,
Justice and Health and Human Services.

President Clinton is expected to outline the proposal today in his weekly
radio address.

The strategy relies heavily on education, prevention and treatment
programs, interdiction efforts and a crackdown on drug-related crime and
violence. It also proposes beefing up the Border Patrol along the U.S.
Mexican border and giving the Customs Service new technology to help agents
search for drugs.

The main focus of the initiative is discouraging youth ages 9 to 19 from
using drugs.

"Drug abuse is preventable," according to a draft of this year's National
Drug Control Strategy report. "If boys and girls reach adulthood without
using illegal drugs, alcohol or tobacco, they probably will never develop a
chemical-dependency problem."

About $195 million of the initiative is earmarked for an anti-drug media
campaign aimed at children. An additional $146 million would go for
programs to curb underage smoking and $50 million would be set aside to pay
for 1,300 counselors at middle schools.

White House drug policy chief Barry McCaffrey said children aren't the only
focus of the strategy. Teaching parents about the dangers of drugs may be
just as effective, he said.

The programs would be gauged by performance standards to help measure
progress toward reaching their five and 10-year goals.

McCaffrey cautioned that not all the federal agencies would be able to
immediately reach their goals.

Other programs featured in the drug-control initiative:

$85 million for drug treatment programs in prisons.

$49 million for the National Institutes of Health to expand research on
drug and underage alcohol use.

$24.5 million to provide the Drug Enforcement Administration 100 more
special agents to help fight the nation's growing problem of
methamphetamine sales and production.

A 75.4 million increase in the Defense Department's budget for
drug-fighting in the Caribbean, Mexico and South America.

Meanwhile, Clinton announced Friday that he is naming Neal Lane, director
of the National Science Foundation, to be the new director of the White
House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Lane succeeds Jack Gibbons,
who announced last year that he would vacate the White House post.