Reagan Outlines Goals in Anti-Drug Crusade : President, Cabinet May Take Tests as Example in Increased National Effort to Curb Trafficking

President Reagan called on the American people Monday to join him in a national crusade against drugs, pledging that he and his Cabinet would be willing to be among the first government workers to voluntarily take urine tests to set an example toward his goal of a drug-free workplace.

“Drugs, in one way or the other, are victimizing all of us,” Reagan said in an afternoon speech at the White House that outlined six broad goals in his fight against drugs but offered few specifics on how he would achieve them.

Briefing Republican congressmen before the speech, Reagan set a 50% reduction in drug use in the next three years as his target and vowed that his stepped-up war on drugs will mean “Pearl Harbor for the drug traffickers.”

Will Summon Ambassadors

To dramatize his determination to drastically reduce drug supply and demand, a White House official said that Reagan plans to summon the U.S. ambassadors to more than a dozen major drug-producing countries, from Bolivia to Pakistan, to the White House this fall to discuss ways that the Administration can help foreign governments cut drug production.

The official, speaking on the condition that he not be identified, said the Administration would like to encourage other foreign drug busts similar to Operation Blast Furnace in Bolivia, where the U.S. government provided helicopters and support troops to Bolivian drug fighters.

At the same time, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said it is unlikely that the Administration will ask for an increase in funding to combat drugs until fiscal 1988, which begins Oct. 1, 1987. Instead, Reagan’s much-ballyhooed program will depend largely on his ability to persuade the country to adopt the First Lady’s slogan to “just say no” to drugs.

When asked if he was “going to take this away from Mrs. Reagan,” who had been the Administration’s primary anti-drug advocate, Reagan drew laughter when he responded: “Do I look like an idiot?”

Still, with drugs an increasingly potent political issue, Reagan is in an election-year bidding war with congressional leaders of both parties on who can capture the public confidence first when it comes to combatting drugs. “This is chapter one, more to come,” Reagan said, serving notice that he intends to continue speaking out against drugs.

Today, House Democratic leaders, including Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. of Massachusetts, will join forces with their Republican counterparts in the chamber in an appeal to television networks to mount a major campaign against drugs.

While the details of the Administration’s program are still being worked out, Reagan appeared eager to stake his claim in time to capitalize on the wave of public concern about drug abuse sparked by the recent deaths of athletes Len Bias and Don Rogers.

Wants Drug-Free Workplace

Leading Reagan’s list of six sweeping goals is a drug-free workplace in the public and private sectors. Although Reagan said he favors mandatory drug testing “where the employees have the health of others and the safety of others in their hands,” he stopped short of endorsing it for all government workers, calling instead for voluntary testing.

Reagan’s second goal is drug-free schools, which the Administration intends to encourage by proposing that federal funds be withheld from educational institutions that do not have active anti-drug abuse programs.

His third goal involves more and better drug treatment facilities, a glaring need as the country tries to cope with the influx of “crack,” a highly addictive and inexpensive form of cocaine.

International Cooperation

Fourth, Reagan called for more international cooperation in the war against drugs, reminding his audience that a presidential directive he signed earlier this year declaring drug abuse as “a threat to our national security” paved the way for U.S. military assistance in the Bolivian crackdown.

Fifth, Reagan endorsed “prompt and severe punishment” for drug peddlers, “the big guys and the little guys.”

Lastly, Reagan said he wants to expand public awareness about the dangers of drugs.

As an example of the kind of attitudinal change he would like to see, he recalled how, in the past, Hollywood movies typically played drunken scenes for a laugh. With increased knowledge about alcohol abuse, he noted, “you rarely see a scene for straight comedy of someone being drunk.”