Drug Testing for Reagan, Top Aides to Begin Monday

The White House senior staff, led by President Reagan and Vice President George Bush, will undergo voluntary testing for drugs beginning Monday “to set the example and lead the way to the President’s goal of a drug-free workplace,” the White House announced Thursday.

Although none of the 78 top staff members are required to take the test, White House spokesman Rusty Brashear said that those who refuse to participate “would be noted” and that they could bear the brunt of “peer group pressure.”

However, Brashear said that “we would all be very surprised” if the tests showed that any senior White House staff member has a drug abuse problem. “This is a very carefully selected and screened staff,” he said.

Top staff members were notified by memo that the tests will be administered as part of Reagan’s stepped-up war on drugs. Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan was among the first to state that he would participate.

The tests will be conducted by the White House medical unit, which is staffed by Navy personnel. Results will be available after about 10 days but will not be made public, Brashear said.

Some Mandatory Testing

Reagan has endorsed mandatory drug testing for people in positions that involve national security or the health and safety of others. For others, including the vast majority of federal workers, he has encouraged voluntary testing as a means of curbing drug abuse.

When asked why high-ranking White House staff members with access to classified material should not be subjected to mandatory testing, Brashear replied: “If we thought there were people in here using cocaine, we would do surprise mandatory testing, but we’re not at that point yet here.”

The White House screening, which costs $25 a person, will test for abuse of six substances: marijuana, cocaine, heroin, PCP, amphetamines and barbiturates.

Dr. Carlton Turner, the White House adviser on drug matters, said that those drugs can be detected in urine samples for several days after use. Although presidential staff members have been given four days’ warning of the testings, Turner said: “If a person is using drugs on a regular basis, it would probably show up on Monday.”

‘False Positives’ Common

Because of the high incidence of “false positives” in drug testing, Turner said, a second test will be performed on the same sample if it tests positive. If that test turns up positive as well, a second sample would be taken for further testing.

In the unlikely event that a person with drug problems is uncovered, he or she would be offered counseling, Brashear said. Under no circumstances would that person’s job be threatened, he said, adding: “We’re not out to punish anybody.”

The idea of initiating the tests in the White House as an incentive to the nation was proposed by Turner and John A. Svahn, Reagan’s domestic policy adviser.

(Meanwhile, The New York Times, in today’s editions, quoted Administration sources as saying that the White House tentatively plans to propose a $100-million program next week aimed at combatting the use of drugs in schools. But it noted that officials were divided on the timing of the move.

(The plan calls for grants to be awarded to states on a competitive basis over three years to provide funds to school districts to help in anti-drug efforts, the report said.

(White House spokesman Peter Roussel, asked about the Times report, said Thursday night he had no information on such a program.)