Pubdate: 8 Feb 1999 Source: Bergen Record (NJ) Copyright: 1999 Bergen Record Corp. Feedback: http://www.bergen.com/cgi-bin/feedback Website: http://www.bergen.com/ CLINTON DRAFTS PLAN TO COMBAT DRUG USE Hammering home the need for a drug-control strategy that measures success and failure, the Clinton administration is announcing a five-part plan designed to cut the size of the nation's drug problem in half by 2007. In a three-volume report to Congress, White House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey said drugs cost the country more than 14,000 lives annually, despite a nationwide effort that includes close to $18 billion spent this year by the federal government. President Clinton said that while "there is some encouraging progress in the struggle against drugs, . . . the social costs of drug use continue to climb." In a message to Congress, Clinton said that among the positive signs are a growing view among young people that drugs are risky and a continuing decline in cocaine production overseas. "Studies demonstrate that when our children understand the dangers of drugs, their rates of drug use drop," Clinton said. The five parts of the administration plan are educating children, decreasing the addicted population, breaking the cycle of drugs and crime, securing the nation's borders from drugs, and reducing the supply of drugs. The blend of strategies is aimed at reducing the use and availability of drugs by 50 percent by 2007, 25 percent by 2002. Achieving the goal would mean just 3 percent of the U.S. household population ages 12 and over would be using illegal drugs. The current figure is 6.4 percent. In 1979, the rate was near 15 percent. Vice President Al Gore said "this strategy takes us into the next century with a goal of dramatic reductions in the supply and demand for drugs and a real chance of giving our children drug-free communities in which to grow up." A major piece of the drug-control effort: an advertising campaign that generates more than $195 million a year in matching contributions from media companies. "The strategy seeks to involve parents, coaches, mentors, teachers, clergy, and other role models in a broad prevention campaign," said McCaffrey, head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. A cornerstone of the strategy is accountability for the wide array of current anti-drug programs, with boosts for those that work and the ability to identify swiftly and repair those that aren't producing results. "In the past, Congress had been critical because there were no specific measurements for success," said Bob Weiner, a spokesman for McCaffrey. "There was some real heat in the government" resisting demands for accountability, but "no longer do we only measure the people working the issue and the dollars spent on it. Now you've got to prove bang for the buck." The goals for the period ending in 2007 are to reduce the rate of crime associated with drug trafficking and use by 30 percent, and to reduce the health and social costs associated with drugs by 25 percent. - --- MAP posted-by: Mike Gogulski