[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 30, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H4165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ADMINISTRATION UNVEILS NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gutknecht). Under a previous order of
the House, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Mica] is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I come to the House floor tonight to talk
about President Clinton and this administration's supposedly new policy
relating to national drug control strategy.
Yesterday the President was in my State, and I was somewhat excited
about the possibility of his coming to Florida and announcing a new
drug strategy. Unfortunately, my hopes for some new approach to this
tremendous problem facing our country, particularly under his
stewardship, were immediately dashed when I first learned that the
President's major activities were several Democratic fund-raising
events in the Miami area and I guess a golf game and some other
activities. I really thought he was going to come forth with a new
strategy, but that was not the case.
Then I got my hopes up until I got a copy of the national drug
control strategy that was just released by the administration. I had
hoped that there would be some solid solutions to some of the problems,
and I find that actually it is just sort of repackaging in sort of a
slick cover some of the same approaches that have proven so ineffective
during the past 3\1/2\ years.
What is particularly disturbing is this whole pattern from this
administration relating to drug abuse, substance abuse, and it started
right after the President came into office when he first of all
dismantled the drug czar's office and fired the bulk of the staff. Most
of the reductions in the Executive Office of the White House, the
downsizing, in fact, took place in the drug czar's office. Then the
President ended drug testing for White House and executive staff
members.
Then the President in fact appointed Joycelyn Elders our chief health
officer for the Nation, and she adopted a policy of, instead of ``Just
say no,'' her theme was ``Just say maybe.'' Maybe we should allow
legalization. Maybe we should allow children to use drugs.
Then we saw the reversal of the policy in the Andean region, where we
shared information with countries that were trying to stop drug
trafficking. We denied radar and intelligence sharing through a
distorted policy of this administration.
Then we saw the dismantling of interdiction for 2 years under the
Democrat control of the House. We saw them take apart a program which
had so many successes in the 1980's and early 1990's of stopping the
flow of narcotics into this country.
Then we saw drug treatment as the major emphasis in the drug war. I
heard my colleague from Indiana, Mr. Souder, say yesterday that drug
treatment as the major emphasis in a drug war is like treating only the
wounded in a conflict. We see the results of it even in the President's
own strategy.
Adolescent drug use. If we look at this chart, in 1992 we see it
going down. In 1992, when this administration took office, we see a
dramatic, sharp increase. Every one of these chart figures streaming
off the chart there in marijuana, LSD, inhalants, stimulants.
With marijuana, marijuana use increase has dramatically leaped
forward in the past 3\1/2\ years. In fact, there has been a 50-percent
increase in marijuana use among our adolescents for each of the last 3
years.
So we see really a lack of leadership, we see a lack of initiative,
ideas, and we see packaged again the same policy. We are not even at
the level of interdiction funding of the last year of the Bush
administration.
I look forward to working with the new drug czar, General McCaffrey,
and the Members of Congress to turn this around But this is another
policy for disaster. In fact, we must start getting serious about
narcotics control and we must take a new, positive direction, not the
path so unsuccessful in the past.
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