[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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