Celebrities Join Forces in Anti-Drug Campaign

First Lady Nancy Reagan and William E. Simon, former Treasury secretary, will join National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle, National Basketball Assn. Commissioner David Stern and baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth in a national high school drug education and prevention program.

Stern made the official announcement of the program Thursday morning on NBC’s Today show.

The program, the National Federation Target Program, will be headed by a 53-member “chemical health committee” that includes Mrs. Reagan, Simon, Rozelle, Ueberroth, Stern and entertainers Bob Hope and Michael Jackson, according to Don Sparks, assistant director of the National Federation of State High School Assns.

“The program will work through the National Federation to the individual state federations, like the CIF in California,” Sparks said. “It will go through those agencies to the high schools and the students. It will be a massive effort.”

Sparks said the education program will be dispensed to students through coaches, athletic directors and directors of school activities such as debate clubs, bands and dance groups.

Sparks said the federation wanted its drug-prevention program to work through athletic coaches “because of the unique teaching situations coaches have that other teachers don’t. Because of the strong relationship between coaches and athletes, coaches have teachable moments that you can’t create in a classroom. Because of that, sports will play a big part in the program.”