Crack Down

By Evan Thomas

Presidents bedeviled by seemingly intractable problems tend to resort to symbolic gestures. As he wondered how to pay for the Great Society and the Viet Nam War all at once, Lyndon Johnson roamed the White House halls turning off lights to save electricity. In the depths of the energy crisis, Jimmy Carter turned down the thermostat in the Oval Office and put on a sweater. So, as the national furor over the drug crisis continues to grow, it was not altogether startling to hear Ronald Reagan offer to take a urine test to determine if he has consumed any narcotics lately -- and to ask his entire Cabinet to follow suit.

Declaring a "national mobilization" on narcotics abuse, the President set forth a program last week that was long on exhortation and good intentions but a bit short on specifics and cash. Indeed, about the only concrete step he announced at a briefing for White House reporters was a call for mandatory drug testing for certain key federal workers, and even then the President did not spell out which ones.

Over the weekend, Reagan "led the way" by taking his test before undergoing what proved to be a routine urological examination. It was not the sort of event that provided the press corps with a photo opportunity, but it served to underscore just how serious the President is about tackling the nation's drug epidemic.

He can hardly afford to be less than serious. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that up to 5 million Americans regularly use cocaine and that annual cocaine-related deaths have tripled since 1982, from 202 to more than 600 in 1985.White House polls show that the public is more worried about drugs than about such matters as the federal budget deficit and arms control. Congressmen, particularly Democrats trying to find an election issue for this fall, are tripping all over one another to introduce free-spending antidrug legislation. The President's wife has long been in the forefront of the drug war with a "Just Say No" campaign that she has doggedly propagated to the nation's youth.

Yet for reasons philosophical and fiscal, the President is not rushing to throw federal dollars at the drug crisis. He does not want to inflate the federal deficit, which could reach a record $230 billion this year, by creating new and costly Government programs. Reagan would prefer that many of the solutions -- and most of the funding -- come from state and local officials and the private sector.

Thus the crusade called for by the President last week was, as he admitted, less a program than a set of goals. Promising "more to come," he offered a six-point plan:

A drug-free workplace for all Americans. Reagan wants the Federal Government to serve as an example. Though he stopped short of calling for across-the- board drug screening for all federal employees, as some of his aides have urged, the President proposed mandatory urinalysis for federal workers in "sensitive" jobs. White House aides later explained that this meant workers charged with public safety, like air-traffic controllers and national- security and law-enforcement officials. The President's Cabinet has dutifully agreed to undergo drug tests if asked, as have most White House staffers.

Drug-free schools. This fall, declared Reagan, "everyone should be made aware from Day 1 that drugs on campus used or sold by anyone are a thing of the past." He instructed Education Secretary William Bennett to develop proposals that would enlist school administrators, PTAs, college presidents and student organizations in cracking down on drug use.

Public health protection. Though the President spoke of improved prevention, treatment and testing, a White House official asked to elaborate on this goal simply noted that half the intravenous drug users in New York City are suspected carriers of the AIDS virus. Federal funds for drug prevention and treatment, which have declined during the Reagan Administration from $404 million in 1981 to $279 million this year, would presumably be boosted, but Reagan did not say by how much.

International cooperation. In September, Reagan will recall U.S. ambassadors to the major drug-producing countries for "special consultations." The President aims to reassure foreign governments that have so far been notably reluctant to act against local drug producers without stronger indications that the U.S. will do something to stem the burgeoning demand of its drug users. The Administration intends as well to provide military support, like the troops and helicopters sent to Bolivia last month. "Operation Blast Furnace" was ridiculed for failing to catch any drug producers, but last week U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Edward Rowell claimed that the raids achieved a "dramatic impact" on Bolivian cocaine production by shutting down six major labs with a combined production capacity of five tons a week.

Stronger enforcement. Reagan wants to step up efforts by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the military and domestic law-enforcement agencies to prosecute drug traffickers and interdict supplies. Despite much heralded busts, like one last week in Pennsylvania that broke up a drug ring charged with smuggling more than seven tons of cocaine into the U.S., the DEA has only about 2,500 agents, the same number as in 1975. It remains unclear whether Reagan plans to send them substantial reinforcements.

Expanded public awareness. This is the heart of Reagan's program, and his personal involvement is the first step. "We must make drug use the top item in the national dialogue," Reagan told a convention of drug-prevention activists last week in Virginia. It was his third antidrug speech in six days.

Reagan insisted to skeptical reporters at the White House that his program "isn't just rhetoric alone. We know that there's going to be a cost, and we're going to have to find that money." White House officials are boosting this year's $2.1 billion total antidrug budget by about $500 million next year.

Congress seems less constrained by fiscal realities. "President Reagan is trying to fight a bear with a flyswatter," insists House Majority Leader Jim Wright. House Speaker Tip O'Neill has called on Hill leaders to bring an omnibus antidrug bill to the floor for a vote by Sept. 10. The price tag of some new proposals, above and beyond current funding, is estimated at up to $2 billion. The Democratic-controlled House voted 302 to 118 last week to give the President more troops in his border war on drugs than he has asked for. The House wants to spend an additional $100 million to pay for 1,547 customs agents, an item the Administration had sought to eliminate in next year's budget, and hire 850 new ones in areas beset by drug smuggling, such as Texas and Florida.

Hill Democrats hope to reap some political rewards by outdoing the Reagan Administration in their zeal to conquer drugs. But White House aides profess not to be worried. "The President has a lot of credibility on this issue because of what Nancy's been doing," said one Reaganaut. Asked by reporters last week if he planned to upstage his wife's efforts, Reagan snorted, "Do I look like an idiot?"

The President's plea for help at the grass roots has not gone unheeded. All around the country last week local officials moved against the drug epidemic. In Los Angeles, officials announced that they will put $500,000 into drug education in elementary schools. To protest the spread of crack in New York City, where drug-treatment facilities are filled to more than 110% of capacity, John Cardinal O'Connor led a candlelight vigil on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

The President emphasized last week that his objective is to launch not "another short-term offensive" but a "sustained national effort to rid America of this scourge by mobilizing every segment of our society against drug abuse." His program may still be vague, but it recognizes the essential point: more border patrols and longer jail sentences are not enough; the U.S. must attack not only the supply side of the drug equation but the demand as well. That will require a fundamental change in the national climate, a growing intolerance of drug use not just by school administrators but by students, not just by law-enforcement authorities but by friends and families. "Unless you change attitudes," said Senior White House Aide Dennis Thomas last week, "I don't care how many billions you spend. You won't do a damn thing."

With reporting by Barrett Seaman/Washington