A Different Michael Milken Surfaces : Rehabilitation: Five months out of prison, the former junk bond king says he is looking forward to working with youths on an anti-drug program in the inner city.

The image of financier-turned-felon Michael Milken toiling to keep inner city kids off drugs is not exactly in keeping with that of the suit-wearing workaholic who did so much to change the world of business in the 1980s.

But Milken, who will be working full time for the DARE America anti-drug and anti-violence program for the next three years, says he is no stranger to the inner city or to drug abuse. Many of Milken’s philanthropic efforts during the last decade have taken him to high-crime areas across the country, and he was surrounded by addicts during his prison stint for securities laws violations. He even joined the institution’s chapter of Narcotics Anonymous to better understand his fellow inmates.

“It was an educational experience for me,” Milken said Friday in an interview with The Times.

“I don’t think anybody can escape in our society. Drugs are not a problem of South-Central L.A., they’re a problem of all of our society,” said Milken, who never indulges in carbonated drinks, caffeine, alcohol or drugs. That’s not the Milken most people believe that they know. His story is a familiar one: In five years, Milken went from wheeling and dealing on Wall Street to scrubbing toilets at the minimum security federal work camp in Pleasanton, paying $1.1 billion in penalties and lawsuit settlements along the way.

The man who single-handedly popularized the high-yield securities known as junk bonds endured jokes about his now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t toupee and his non-millionaire prison lifestyle. He became the poster boy for everything bad about the 1980s. He developed prostate cancer.

Five months after leaving prison, where he served nearly two years, (reduced from 10 years, with parole possible after 36 months), Milken is settling into a routine.

Milken, who turns 47 on the Fourth of July, will spend his days at DARE’s Culver City headquarters, at an unnamed inner-city middle school and in the community selling an after-school program called DARE-plus, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education--Play and Learning Under Supervision.

Weekends, he sticks close to his Encino home and his wife, Lori, and three children.

Milken looks thin but healthy and says he is responding well to treatments for prostate cancer, which was caught at an early stage during a post-prison physical. Milken has thrown himself into learning about and fighting the disease, creating a foundation called CAPCURE to raise money for research and increase awareness of prostate cancer.

At DARE, Milken will implement a one-school pilot program that will go far beyond telling students to “just say no.” It will offer such things as computer training, vocational training with local businesses, academic and sports clubs, a photography club, tutoring and a health and fitness program.

“One of the focuses here is learning can be fun,” he said. “We would hope that whether it’s through spelling bees or math clubs or science clubs or geography clubs or travel clubs, that the kids would have fun and see these subjects as enjoyable and not as something they have to do.” The group hopes that the program will not only improve self-esteem, but will also lower the drop-out rate and reduce participation in gangs and crime, he said.

Milken said he’s seen students who were labeled “dumb” by their classmates blossom during informal competitions in the Mike’s Math Clubs that he developed. After teaching those students a few math tricks that let them multiply figures quickly in their heads, the “dumb” team always beats the team armed with calculators, he said.

Milken will be teaching students and training volunteers for DARE-plus, which the group hopes to roll out to other middle schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District in two years and then to other districts nationwide. Milken will also be developing a manual to help other school districts adopt the program.

Milken also is charged with making the program “financially reasonable,” with a target annual cost of $25 to $35 per student.

In addition, Milken said he will find free time to work on other ventures, including the Education Entertainment Network cable operation that he plans to launch by September, 1995.

The network, which has its own staff, has already signed up singer Michael Jackson and is looking for several corporations as financial partners.

He also plans to write about his experiences of the last few years.

“There will be plenty of time to talk about the ‘80s,” he said.