GINGRICH BLASTS CLINTON'S ANTI-DRUG PLAN AS A 'TIMETABLE FOR DEFEAT'

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's plan for cutting illicit drug use in half
over the next decade was attacked harshly Saturday by House Speaker Newt
Gingrich, R-Ga., who ridiculed the proposal as "a hodgepodge of half-steps
and half-truths."

Calling Clinton's anti-drug strategy a "timetable for defeat," Gingrich
pledged that the Republican-dominated Congress would propose more sweeping
legislation to shrink drug use.

Gingrich delivered the GOP response to Clinton's weekly radio address,
which focused on the administration's anti-narcotics plan.

In Clinton's speech, he called upon parents to join the government in
ridding the United States of the scourge of drug use.

Clinton said his new 10-year plan to cut illegal drug use by 50 percent is
based on the "very encouraging news in recent months that more and more of
our young people are saying no to drugs" and that overall the number of
Americans who use drugs has fallen by one-half since 1979.

The recent White House report -- written by Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey,
coordinator of drug-control strategy -- said that in 1996, 13 million
people in the United States were drug users, down from a peak of 25 million
in 1979.

In contrast to Clinton's assertion that progress had been made in the fight
against drugs, Gingrich said the battle is "going downhill."

Gingrich focused on a reversal in trends that began earlier this decade for
teen-age drug use: After years of decline, the usage rate among teenagers
surged.

The increase in "drug use among teens has skyrocketed an unthinkable 70
percent" since 1992, Gingrich said, and he said "a resounding silence from
the White House on drugs" bears part of the blame.

Administration officials have acknowledged concern about teen-age drug use,
but they were encouraged by a recent study showing that drug use among
younger teen-agers appears to be leveling off.

Declaring that Clinton's plan will be "dead on arrival in this Congress,"
Gingrich pledged to seek passage of "the largest, most dynamic, most
comprehensive anti-drug strategy ever designed."

Gingrich provided no details or funding estimates, only the general
outlines of his approach.