Antismoking advocates here say their goal is to regulate tobacco, not outlaw it.

That was a reference to the Clinton Administration's intention to regulate tobacco as a drug.

"We don't need any more legislation regulating tobacco," he said in a statement today.

For the drug agency, regulating tobacco poses a ticklish paradox.

Forget, for example, about regulating tobacco as a drug, an idea that had been championed by some committee Democrats.

Until now, the burden has been on anti-smoking forces to try regulate tobacco.

In the meantime, he said, the Administration would continue with its own efforts to regulate tobacco.

Another would give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco.

If the food and drug agency regulates tobacco, then why not alcohol?

There is a good reason Congress never regulated tobacco: Industry money influenced the system.