[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 51 (Friday, April 19, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S3699]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               A TRAGIC ASSAULT: DRUG USE AMONG TEENAGERS

  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, this morning we gathered in the Senate 
Chamber to remember a very solemn moment in American history: the 
needless loss of 168 citizens in Oklahoma City. It reminds me of 
another tragic assault that goes on against the youth of our country on 
a day-to-day basis.
  In the last 36 months, drug use among our teenagers 8 to 15 years of 
age has doubled, and we are in the midst of a new epidemic. What does 
that mean? That means that nearly 2 million--2 million--American youth 
have been ensnared in the assault by the drug lords of this hemisphere 
and their lives are potentially ruined, devastated and stunted.
  Not only will their lives be impaired and ruined, but a chain of 
events will follow because as these youngsters are consumed by drugs, 
they are driven into a life of crime, an effect on our Nation which is 
immeasurable.
  Of the 35,000 prisoners in Georgia this morning, 80 percent of them 
are there today because of drug-related offenses. The impact of this 
war, this assault on the youth of our country is having a devastating 
impact across the land as it drives crime, assault and battery, murder, 
theft, robbery, burglary.
  Mr. President, I spent a few minutes with President Zedillo of Mexico 
not long ago. He said the drug war was the single greatest threat to 
his country. I said, ``I agree with you, Mr. President, with one 
amendment. The drug war is the single greatest threat to this 
hemisphere of democracies, to all of our nations in this hemisphere of 
democracies.''
  Mr. President, I yield up to 10 minutes to my distinguished 
colleague, the Senator from Iowa, the chairman of a drug task force and 
eminent figure in this issue and assault on the youth of our country. I 
yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Iowa.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

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