[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 569 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                       October 7, 2002.
Whereas nearly 20,000 Americans, many of them children, die of drug-induced 
        deaths, more than 52,000 Americans die from drug-related causes, and 
        more than 600,000 Americans visit hospital emergency rooms for drug-
        related episodes every year;
Whereas the United States has for years been one of the largest consumers of 
        illegal drugs in the world;
Whereas more than 50 percent of high school seniors have experimented with an 
        illegal drug at least once prior to graduation, 2,800,000 Americans are 
        considered to be ``dependent'' on illegal drugs, and an additional 
        1,500,000 are in the less severe ``abuser'' category;
Whereas the societal costs, including lost productivity, of the illegal drug 
        problem in America have reached a staggering $160,000,000,000 per year;
Whereas the United States is experiencing a dramatic increase in the potency of 
        marijuana and sharply escalating use of drugs such as methamphetamines, 
        ``club drugs'' such as (``ecstasy'') and abuse of legally prescribed 
        drugs such as Oxycontin;
Whereas the Office of National Drug Control Policy within the Executive Office 
        of the President was established by the National Narcotics Leadership 
        Act of 1988 to coordinate the Nation's overall counter-narcotics 
        efforts;
Whereas the United States has consistently and firmly supported a ``balanced'' 
        approach in the war on drugs, and the National Drug Control Strategy for 
        2002 calls for stopping drug use before it starts through education and 
        community action, healing America's drug users by getting treatment 
        resources where they are needed, and disrupting the market by attacking 
        the economic basis of the drug trade;
Whereas more than 5,000 community anti-drug coalitions across America have been 
        created to bring together parents, teachers, coaches, mentors, business 
        leaders, faith-based organizations, and Federal, State, and local 
        governments to reduce drug use through effective grassroots efforts;
Whereas the President of the United States has directed the Secretary of Health 
        and Human Services and the Attorney General to better define and address 
        the so-called ``treatment gap'' in America through increased and more 
        effective drug treatment facilities across America and by convincing 
        nearly 90 percent of drug abusers, particularly adolescents, that they 
        in fact need help;
Whereas the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign plays an important role in 
        reducing drug use and social disapproval of drugs;
Whereas there is a well-established link between the profits from the illegal 
        drug trade and the financing of many of the world's leading terrorist 
        organizations, including the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and the Fuerzas Armadas 
        Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), and the illegal narcotics trade has 
        contributed directly to social and political instability and loss of 
        innocent life in democratic nations in the Andean region and around the 
        world;
Whereas the United States Government and the House of Representatives are 
        working closely with allied nations to stop the international production 
        and transit of illegal drugs and promote alternative development and 
        means of economic growth;
Whereas the capabilities of the United States Coast Guard, the United States 
        Customs Service, and the United States Border Patrol are critical to our 
        Nation's drug interdiction efforts and must be maintained at no less 
        than their current levels;
Whereas Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies are working 
        diligently to enforce laws prohibiting the use of illegal drugs and to 
        interdict illegal drug traffic to the United States;
Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States decisively reaffirmed that the 
        Controlled Substances Act is binding national law in United States v. 
        Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Collective, 532 U.S. 483 (2001); and
Whereas the use of illegal drugs has been decisively rejected by the American 
        people as inconsistent with the general welfare of the United States and 
        individual dignity: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) expresses its support for the President of the United States and 
        the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the goal to reduce drug 
        use in America by 10 percent during the next 2 years and 25 percent 
        during the next 5 years;
            (2) calls on all Americans to join in the effort to prevent, reduce, 
        and reject illegal drug use in America by talking to children about the 
        dangers and consequences of illegal drug use and encouraging other 
        responsible adults to do the same in their families and communities;
            (3) calls on the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of 
        Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury, the 
        Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Transportation, 
        the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the 
        heads of subsidiary agencies (including the Drug Enforcement 
        Administration, the United States Customs Service, the United States 
        Coast Guard, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration) 
        to work together to effectively implement the 2002 National Drug Control 
        Strategy and continue to seek ways to improve the coordination among 
        Federal, State, and local governments, nonprofit organizations, 
        corporations, foreign governments, and private citizens to reduce the 
        demand for international supply of illegal drugs in the United States;
            (4) expresses its sense that narcotics control is an integral part 
        of homeland security and should be a priority mission for any new 
        Department of Homeland Security;
            (5) commends all Federal, State, and local government personnel 
        working to combat illegal drug use in the United States, as well as 
        community leaders who seek to make a difference across the United 
        States; and
            (6) reaffirms the sense of the House of Representatives against any 
        use of narcotic and other drugs in a manner inconsistent with the 
        Controlled Substances Act.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.