[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 39 (Wednesday, April 13, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                            LEGALIZING DRUGS

                                 ______


                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 13, 1994

  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with my colleagues and 
other readers of the Record an article written by Mr. Frank Trexler of 
Maryville, TN that appeared earlier this year in the Maryville Daily 
Times.
  Many of us have friends or relatives who have fallen victim to drug 
abuse, and anyone who has shared in that pain must surely question the 
wisdom of a recent suggestion made by our Nation's top health official 
that we should consider legalizing drugs.
  I believe that Mr. Trexler's article raises some important questions 
about the Surgeon General's proposal, which Drug Czar Lee P. Brown 
recently called a ``formula for self-destruction.'' I sincerely hope 
that the advocates of legalization will take Mr. Trexler's arguments to 
heart.

              Funeral for a Friend Just Says No to Elders

                           (By Frank Trexler)

       We buried Steve the day before Thanksgiving.
       My former college roommate was less than two weeks past his 
     35th birthday when the battle came to an end--a time span 
     that his mother referred to as 21 years of hell.
       For you see, her only son Steve was good looking, humorous, 
     intelligent--a one-time teacher with a master's degree in 
     history from University of Tennessee--most likable, and 
     generous. In fact, as his dad would say after the funeral, 
     ``Steve would take in a dog.'' Visiting his house, you might 
     find a street person sleeping on the living room floor, or 
     ``a busload of California hippies'' who took Steve up on his 
     offer at a North Carolina Rainbow gathering to drop in any 
     time.
       But Steve, who grew up in the Baptist faith and gave his 
     life to Jesus as a pre-teen, fought a demon familiar to many 
     our age: drugs and alcohol.
       Looking at our 1974 high school yearbook, it's easy to 
     recall the drug-filled atmosphere that permeated the times; 
     the heavy waft of marijuana smoke and the reek of stale beer 
     were familiar at teen parties. Chances are it was those two 
     substances that introduced the inherently curious Steve to 
     the drug scene.
       When I caught up with him in 1978, we rented a house about 
     a mile from the East Tennessee State University campus in 
     Johnson City. Our grades counted us as ``respectable,'' as we 
     used to say tongue in cheek; our lifestyle raucous and 
     incredibly anti-Christian. But that lifestyle has its 
     spiritual and earthly costs.
       In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul writes, ``When I was 
     a child I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I 
     reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish 
     ways behind me.''
       In 1985, I gave my life to Christ and put the ``childish 
     ways behind me.'' The demons fled. Later, Steve would try to 
     escape his own demons, but they seemed to only dig the talons 
     in more deeply. (Maybe my demons were wimpy compared to his.)
       In 1990, with the help of his parents and church, Steve 
     entered a rehabilitation unit in North Carolina. Upon 
     release, he came to stay with me and my family in Knoxville, 
     hoping to find a job in his teaching profession. He stayed 
     only a few days before returning home.
       My advice as he left was to escape his ``friends'' and 
     their scene. He said the rehab people told him the same. 
     Apparently he ignored us all.
       At the time of his death, Steve was again in 
     rehabilitation--this time under court orders. He had been 
     jailed as a co-conspirator in a drug buy, but the judge saw 
     in Steve what many of us did and tried to help him.
       By all accounts, Steve had been straight for ``four or five 
     months'' until the Thursday before his death. One friend said 
     Steve came to his house that Friday a bit high with two other 
     men and told him twice in less than 10 minutes that he needed 
     to talk. The friend said at the time it didn't seem urgent 
     and failed to pursue it any further.
       On Saturday, Steve worked a flea market with his dad, who 
     later said when his only son left he somehow knew it would be 
     their last moments together. ``I watched him until he went 
     out of sight.''
       That afternoon, those who saw him say Steve arrived 
     ``sideways'' at a house being renovated by some 
     acquaintances. At some point, they say, he passed out in the 
     front yard and was taken inside before being left alone while 
     the others reportedly went to a bar. When they returned, 
     Steve was dead and his war was over. The cause of death has 
     not been determined. But there is little doubt substance 
     abuse played some part.
       Some of those who gathered in the upper East Tennessee 
     cemetery that day are likely fighting the same war. Gathering 
     around the grave site, they took on the appearance of wounded 
     returning from battle.
       Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders suggested Tuesday that 
     legalizing drugs could help make America's streets safer. 
     Responding to questions at a National Press Club luncheon 
     after a speech decrying violence, Elders said 60 percent of 
     violent crimes are drug- or alcohol-related.
       ``Many times they're robbing, stealing and all of these 
     things to get money to buy drugs,'' she said. ``I do feel 
     that we would markedly reduce our crime rate if drugs were 
     legalized.''
       The nation's top doc and those of her ideological ilk who 
     engage in the Bob Marley-esque chant of ``legalize it . . . 
     legalize it'' appear to have tunnel vision on this issue. 
     Yes, drug gangs and their violence would likely disappear; 
     maybe thefts would even drop in correlation to the reduced 
     cost of drugs. But has the lack of prohibition cut down on 
     alcohol-related deaths? The numbers tell a different story.
       While Elders is off the wall, Lee P. Brown, the director of 
     the Office of National Drug Control Policy at the White 
     House, is on target: Legalization, he said, is ``a formula 
     for self-destruction'' and would inflict ``terrifying 
     damage'' on communities already torn apart by drugs.
       If Elders and others would like to study the issue, they 
     should stroll to the nearest cemetery. Or, better yet, walk a 
     mile in Steve's shoes. He doesn't need them anymore.

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