Rolling Out the Big Guns

Though some furniture was rearranged to make way for lights, cameras and teleprompters, the West Hall of the White House was supposed to look pretty much as it would on an ordinary Sunday evening. The atmosphere was to be friendly and intimate as the President and Nancy Reagan welcomed a projected 80 million television viewers into their home. Producer Roger Ailes, a trusted old pro, worked to make sure the camera angles were just right. Ken Khachigian, a former Reagan campaign speechwriter known for his rhetorical flair, collaborated on the address. The details had to be perfect, for the President and his wife were going to speak to America on a subject that has emerged as the nation's hottest topic: the fight against drug abuse.

The President planned to reiterate his initiatives for the fight: drug-free schools and workplaces, expanded drug treatment, stronger law enforcement and drug interdiction efforts, and greater public awareness. "Drugs are menacing our society," Reagan planned to say. "They're threatening our values and undercutting our institutions. They're killing our children." The First Lady was going to stress further the vulnerability of the nation's youth: "Today there is a drug and alcohol epidemic in this country, and no one is safe from it -- not you, not me and certainly not our children, because this epidemic has their names written on it."

The abuse of illegal drugs has certainly become the Issue of the Year, except that the main issue involved seems to be how far politicians scramble to outdo one another in leading the crusade. The Administration last week came up with a plan to require more than 1 million federal employees who deal with sensitive information (everyone from defense-contract employees to diplomats) to submit urine samples for drug testing.

The Democratic-controlled House, with Republicans in overwhelming accord, abandoned budgetary restraints -- and perhaps a few constitutional ones as well -- by passing a bill that would throw as much as $4 billion over the next three years into a wide array of antidrug efforts, permit the military to protect the country's borders from drug trafficking and impose a federal death penalty on those who commit murder while dealing in drugs. Across the country candidates were not only trying to top their opponents with radical proposals for tackling the problem but were challenging one another to urinating contests as a demonstration of fealty to the cause.

This sudden, aggressive activism no doubt reflects a genuine desire on the part of political leaders to wipe out drug abuse in the U.S. But this is an election year. Being against drug abuse may seem about as extraordinary a stand as being for motherhood, yet conservatives and liberals alike are making sure the voters know where they stand. "There aren't a lot of emotional, personal issues this year," explains Barbara Pardue, spokeswoman for the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. "The drug issue cuts across all economic and age groups, older people, teenagers, parents, you name it. Blacks are concerned, whites are concerned. It is a universal issue."