CLINTON ORDERS STEPS TO COMBAT PRISON DRUG USE

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton Monday ordered new steps to crack
down on drug use by prison inmates and the White House said he would
propose nearly $200 million in additional measures to fight drugs in
prisons.

"Fighting drugs in our prisons and among prisoners is absolutely critical
ultimately to keeping drugs off the streets and away from our children,"
Clinton said at an Oval Office ceremony.

Clinton ordered Attorney General Janet Reno to require states to report
annually on their progress in fighting drugs in prisons.

He also asked Reno to develop legislation requiring states to boost
penalties for drug trafficking in prison, and to make it easier for states
to use federal prison-construction aid for anti-drug programs.

The White House said Clinton would propose $197 million in new spending in
his fiscal 1999 budget request to promote "coerced abstinence" and drug
treatment for prisoners. Some of that money would go toward measures
announced Monday, but most is for plans to be announced later, White House
aides said.

"Jail time has to be cold turkey for those who are addicted, and must
represent unemployment for those who are drug dealers," Barry McCaffrey,
head of the White House anti-drug effort, told reporters before Clinton
signed the order.