[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 15 (Monday, February 5, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E180]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ``JUST SAY `WHOA' ''

                                 ______


                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 1, 1996

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the congressional narcotics 
abuse and control caucus, I would like to bring to my colleagues' 
attention the following article, ``Just Say `Whoa' '', written by 
former First Lady Nancy Reagan, which appeared last month in the Wall 
Street Journal.
  I rise to thank and congratulate her for her editorial, ``Just Say 
`Whoa' '', which appeared in this week's Wall Street Journal. The 
article correctly described how apathy, neglect, and irresponsible 
attitudes have corrupted efforts to stem the trafficking and abuse of 
narcotics in this country. I share her outrage, but I am heartened to 
know that Mrs. Reagan's commitment to this Nation's future--our 
children--continues.
  As Americans, we all hail from different backgrounds. Our ethnic, 
cultural, and spiritual diversity have served us well as sources of 
community, strength, and pride but occasionally test the strength of 
our Union. The one virtue that unites us all however, is our goal to 
provide a better future for children. This shared sense of destiny will 
always include a world free of drugs and the associated violence, 
crime, disease, and death. Increased drug use and tolerance by our 
children however, turns our dreams into nightmares.
  As discourging as the increase in the use of drugs by teens is the 
silence and indifference of responsible policymakers who have ignored 
the fears of our children. Worse still are the people, both 
conservative and liberal, who perpetuate misguided rhetoric supporting 
legalization of this scourge. Such irresponsible behavior further 
erodes the ability of teachers, mentors, and parents to shield children 
from the seductive lure of drugs.
  Instead of equivocating on the harms of drugs, we need to inspire, 
educate, train, and employ our young people. Opportunity and 
responsibility offer perhaps the best alternative to drug use. Instead 
of endlessly incarcerating our children at a shameful rate, we need to 
lift them up with hope and show them alternatives. It's time to act.
  The article follows:

                           Just Say ``Whoa''

                           (By Nancy Reagan)

       Statistic released last fall from the annual Household 
     Survey of Drug Use and, more recently, from the 21st annual 
     Monitoring the Future Survey show that marijuana use among 
     teenagers was up again last year. Where is the public outrage 
     over this finding? When will this country realize that as 
     long as we don't wake up and adopt a zero tolerance for drug 
     use, we are heading down a path of no return? Must we lose 
     another generation of children to the horrors of crack 
     addiction? Must the statistics soar to all-time highs before 
     we bother to take notice?
       Last March I was invited to testify before a congressional 
     committee, at which time I said: ``I am not here to criticize 
     or place blame, but after the great strides that were made 
     just a few years back, I'm worried that this nation is 
     forgetting how endangered our children are by drugs. I'm 
     worried that for the first time in many years, tolerance for 
     drugs and the mistaken perception that `everyone is doing it' 
     is creeping back into our national mentality. And I am 
     worried that the psychological momentum we had against drug 
     use has been lost.
       ``[Y]et it's more than worry,'' I pleaded. ``This weakening 
     vigilance against the drug threat can have a tragic effect on 
     this country for many years to come. . . . How could we have 
     forgotten so quickly? Why is it we no longer hear the 
     drumbeat of condemnation against drugs coming from our 
     leaders and our culture? Is it any wonder drug use has 
     started climbing again, and dramatically so?''
       Regarding the drug use survey, NBC News reported: `` `Just 
     Say No' was an effective message in the '80s . . . in the 
     '90s much more will be needed,'' Denver drug counselor Bob 
     Cota emphasized, ``Kids have to be shown why they need to 
     learn it early, in the third and fourth grades--and it has to 
     be repeated often.''
       Repeated often--like in the '80s when the national 
     leadership was vigilant and visible. And yes, we do need even 
     more now. In response to the 1994 Monitoring the Future 
     Survey, Joseph Califano Jr., chairman and president of the 
     Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia 
     University (CASA), warned: ``If historical trends continue, 
     the jump in marijuana use among America's children (age 12-
     18) from 1992 to 1994 signals that 820,000 more of these 
     children will try cocaine in their lifetime. Of that number, 
     about 58,000 will become regular cocaine users and addicts.'' 
     In a 1995 survey by CASA, adolescents said that drugs were 
     their ``number one'' problem. Our children are crying out for 
     help.
       While drug use is on the rise, the perceived risk of drug 
     use is on the decline. The two go hand in hand. Only a few 
     short years ago, the constant message to young people--in the 
     media, in their classrooms, and in their homes--was that 
     drugs lead to destruction. But where are those messages 
     today? Those messages, those lessons, are what change 
     perceptions, change attitudes, change lives. Each of us have 
     a responsibility to bring back those messages--loud and 
     clear.
       Before the drug-use increases of the past three years, we 
     really had seen marked progress. As I told the members of the 
     committee: ``A decade of effort was beginning to pay off. 
     Attitudes were being changed. I don't mean to sit here and 
     say that we had won the battle against drugs. I think it's 
     plain we had not.'' However, between 1985 and 1992, monthly 
     cocaine use declined 78%, or to an annual rate of 3.1% from 
     its peak of 13.1% in 1985. It's the same story with other 
     numbers: Annual use of any illicit drug by high school 
     seniors dropped to 27.1% in 1992 from 54.2% in 1979. ``The 
     battle was going forward one child at a time,'' I said in 
     March. ``There was momentum, unity, intolerance of the 
     exaggeration and glorification of drug use by the media--we 
     were building peer support for saying `no.' Children were 
     being taught resistance skills--in short, there was 
     progress.''
       Now there is silence--and not without consequence. In 1994, 
     twice the number of eighth-graders were experimenting with 
     marijuana as did in 1991, and daily use of marijuana by high 
     school seniors in 1994 was up by half from 1993. The 1995 
     Monitoring the Future Survey shows that daily use has made 
     another jump.
       We should all, as citizens of this great nation, be 
     frightened by the latest drug statistics. We should all 
     question what they mean to our futures and those of our 
     children. We should all resolve not to be silent any longer. 
     By the latest drug statistics and the renewed calls for 
     legalization of marijuana, it is painfully obvious that our 
     ``letting up'' is going to let down the young people of this 
     country. It's time to just say ``Whoa!''

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