Pubdate: Sat, 07 Oct 2000 Source: Inquirer (PA) Copyright: 2000 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. Contact: 400 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19101 Website: http://www.phillynews.com/inq/ Forum: http://interactive.phillynews.com/talk-show/ Author: Jodi Enda and David Goldstein BUSH PROPOSES PLAN TO COMBAT TEEN DRUG ABUSE He called for spending $2.8 billion more over five years. In Florida, Gore campaigned on his targeted tax-cut plan. By Jodi Enda and David Goldstein INQUIRER WASHINGTON BUREAU CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - George W. Bush accused the Clinton-Gore administration yesterday of firing blanks in the war against drugs and proposed to increase spending by $2.8 billion over five years to curb illegal drug use, particularly among teens. "Unfortunately, in the last 71/2 years, fighting drug abuse has ceased to be a national priority," said the Republican presidential nominee. "Drug policy has been pursued without urgency, without energy, and without meaningful success." His opponent, Democrat Al Gore, was in Florida, teaming up with running mate Joseph I. Lieberman at an outdoor rally of several thousand people at Orlando. Gore focused on tax cuts again, saying his own were targeted to help the middle class while Bush would give most of his proposed $1.3 trillion tax reduction to people who earn more than $1 million a year. "Those facts aren't fuzzy," Gore said. "Those facts are real. They may be inconvenient, but they're not fuzzy." In their debate Tuesday, Bush accused Gore of using "fuzzy math." In a 20-minute speech to about 150 people at a family resource center in Cedar Rapids, Bush asserted that from 1979 to 1992, "our nation confronted drug abuse successfully. Teen drug use declined each and every year. It was one of the best public-policy successes of the 1980s. "All that began to change 71/2 years ago. From 1992 to 1997, teen drug use increased each and every year. Heroin use doubled. The age at which people began using that drug dropped from 27 in 1988 to below 18 in 1997. This was one of the worst public-policy failures of the 1990s." Bush proposed spending $25 million over five years to help nonprofit agencies assist parents in battling teen drug use. In the same period, he would increase spending on drug-free schools by $100 million, double funding for community- and faith-based antidrug programs to $350 million, and provide $250 million for teen drug-treatment programs. He proposed spending an additional $1 billion over five years to treat drug addicts who are not receiving treatment, a category estimated at up to three million people. Most of the remaining money would go toward preventing drugs from entering the United States. "One of Mr. Clinton's first acts as president was to slash the staff of the drug office by 80 percent," Bush said. "The number of workers there went from 146 to 25 - in other words, about half the size of the White House public relations operation. That says something about priorities." A spokesman for Gen. Barry McCaffrey, head of the White House drug policy office, said the Texas governor was using "ancient numbers." Spokesman Bob Weiner said the office initially lost staff when President Clinton slashed overall White House employment, but that it now had 154 employees - more than when President George Bush, the Republican candidate's father, left office in 1993. Weiner also said the Clinton administration had budgeted about $7 billion more to fight drugs - the amount for fiscal 2001 is nearly $20 billion - than did the elder Bush. Weiner also cited a recent study showing that drug use among 12- to 17-year-olds declined 21 percent the last two years. The Texas governor acknowledged that teen drug use had "leveled off" the last two years. But he gave the Clinton administration no credit. Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway said the administration had proposed the largest antidrug budget to date, and noted that Gore had already proposed spending an additional $5.3 billion to crack down on drugs. "Once again, Governor Bush has misfired in attacking the progress of the past eight years," Hattaway said. "And once again, Governor Bush is playing follow the leader." Gore spokesman Chris Lehane added that the vice president last year proposed a crackdown on methamphetamine production. He has called for better treatment options, strengthening the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, expanding drug courts, and toughening penalties for those who sell drugs to children. In Florida, Gore fired up a rally at Orlando's band shell beside Lake Eola. Amid swaying palm trees and near-100-degree heat, he called the state, with its 25 electoral votes, "the key to the election." He also declared Lieberman the winner in Thursday's vice presidential debate with Republican candidate Dick Cheney. "That was as clear a win if I ever saw one," Gore said. Lieberman, basking in the crowd's cheers, said, "You're making me feel like 'Rocky.' " Cheney speaking with reporters yesterday while traveling to Shreveport, La., said that Gore stretches the truth. "He seems to have a compulsion to embellish his answers, or as I mentioned the other day, his resume," Cheney said. ". . .He has held national office for 24 years, yet he seems to have this uncontrollable desire to periodically add things to his reputation that are not true." Cheney was accompanied by former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson, an old friend, who leveled an even sharper attack on Gore's truthfulness. Simpson resurrected allegations by Republican Senate leaders after the 1991 vote authorizing U.S. forces to launch the Persian Gulf war. They said Gore insisted on having 20 minutes to speak on the Senate floor during TV's prime time in exchange for his vote in favor of the resolution. Gore has denied the allegation. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck