Associated Press Writer

April 28, 1998

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Six months before the midterm elections, the two political parties are at war over the war on drugs.

With House Republicans planning a splashy Capitol steps ceremony for Thursday to unveil a series of anti-drug proposals, administration officials hastily arranged an appearance today for Barry McCaffrey, head the administration’s Office of Drug Control Policy.

And House Democrats decided to hold a news conference on Wednesday, where they are expected to criticize Republicans for voting to cut anti-drug programs in the past.

The jockeying comes at a time when both parties are attempting to gain the upper hand over the issue of drugs in advance of elections at which Republicans will be defending a narrow 11-seat majority in the House.

For their part, Republicans are expected to offer a series of proposals designed to cut down on supply as well as demand for drugs and impose new performance criteria on McCaffrey’s office.

Their hope is to deliver a "unified, consistent no-use message," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is scheduled to attend, along with Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., leader of a task force that Gingrich created to fashion a Republican agenda on the issue. Republicans also have arranged for a member of the gold-medal winning women’s U.S. Olympics hockey team to be present.

Republican officials said their proposals call for doubling an existing $10 million program for communities to devise anti-drug strategies, as well as a new pilot program to help small and medium-sized businesses fight drugs in the workplace. Officials said companies with 100 or fewer employees would be eligible to apply for grants, but they provided no details on the amount of money Republicans will propose for the effort.

(Ed. note: These "community" programs are federally funded prohibitionist propaganda groups that lobby for more marijuana prohibition.)

Another proposal would cut off federally backed student loans for recipients convicted of possessing or trafficking in drugs. Offenders could regain their loans after a year following completion of a counseling program, according to officials.

Republicans also will propose increased money for construction of a fence along the southwestern border. They will call for more than doubling the number of U.S. Customs Service border guards by 2002 -- far more than the administration’s proposal for an increase of 1,000 personnel.

Another measure would increase penalties for anyone convicted of drug-related offenses caught at the border. Yet another would require life imprisonment for anyone convicted of trafficking in methamphetamines.

Officials said they had no immediate details on the precise cost of these measures, or on how they would be financed.

While some of these measure are not yet fully drafted, Republicans will push one bill to the House floor this week.

It would ban the direct or indirect use of federal money for needle exchange programs for addicts.

The Clinton administration announced last week it would refuse to use federal tax dollars to buy clean needles for drug addicts, even though it said needle exchanges fight AIDS without encouraging illegal drug use.

Half of all people who catch HIV are infected by needles or by sex with injecting drug users, or are children of infected addicts.
(Ed. note: Note the citing of this fact to put this in context. This is good journalism, but we never see the number of marijuana arrests cited.)

Republican officials say their measure is designed to deny funding to recipients that use their own money to finance needle exchange programs.

They say they expect their ban to clear the House comfortably. But the debate is expected to be lively. House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, for example, is expected to oppose the measure.

The National Basketball Association will be asked to come up with a strong policy against marijuana use, this official said, and coaches will be urged to develop anti-drug messages for use in their work with kids.