[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 96 (Tuesday, June 13, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                            DRUG LEGISLATION

                                 ______


                        HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 13, 1995
  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with you some 
excerpts from an excellent speech recently given by former HEW 
Secretary Joseph Califano. Mr. Califano explores a subject that, 
unfortunately, is only seldom discussed--the enormous costs to 
taxpayers resulting from substance abuse. He also makes it clear that 
drug legalization would have disastrous consequences, especially on 
inner city communities.
  Let me give just one example of how little most Americans understand 
about the wages of substance abuse. Do you ever see newspapers or 
television news report the amount that Federal entitlement programs pay 
out because of substance abuse? The answer is a colossal $77.6 billion 
this year--an amount equivalent to 40 percent of the Federal deficit.
  Legalization of drugs in the United States is a policy of despair, 
one that would write off millions of our citizens, a disproportionate 
number of them black and Hispanic. It has not worked anywhere it has 
been tried. The claim that drug legalization in some European nation 
stands as a success story, especially when measured against the alleged 
failure of American drug policy, is specious.
  Legalizers often cite marijuana as a harmless drug. Nonsense. Smoking 
pot savages short-term memory and ability to concentrate. And smoking 
pot can lead to use of other drugs for thousands of individuals. 12 to 
17 year-olds who smoke pot are 85 times more likely to use cocaine than 
those who don't.
  Secretary Califano understands that drug legalization would have one 
sure effect: Vulnerable inner city communities would become even more 
enslaved to drug pushers.


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