DRUG WAR PRIORITIES OUTLINED

RENO -- The deputy U.S. drug czar urged health professionals and counselors
Wednesday to help in the effort to reduce the number of substance abusers by
25 percent in the next five years.

"Ambitious? Oh, yes. Realistic? Only because of you. Your work. Your
efforts. Your daily duties," Mary Ann Solberg, deputy director of the Office
of National Drug Control Policy, said at the summer institute for addiction
and prevention studies.

In a combination status report and pep talk, Solberg said her office has set
three priorities in the national war on substance abuse:

* Prevent drug abuse before it starts.

* Help America's drug users.

* Disrupt the supply from both domestic and foreign sources.

Solberg said a media campaign aimed at steering people away from drug and
alcohol abuse is aimed at both adolescents and adults, including the parents
of youngsters.

In the past, she has urged adults to avoid even occasional alcoholic binges
on a holiday or other special event as a means of conveying a message of
restraint to youths.

"We are changing not only the attitudes of parents, we are changing their
behavior," she said Wednesday.