[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H9929]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                FIGHT ILLEGAL DRUGS, NOT TOBACCO FARMERS

  (Mr. FUNDERBURK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FUNDERBURK. Mr. Speaker, Bill Clinton's assault on tobacco has 
upset farmers all across my district in eastern North Carolina. 
Clinton's proposal by definition has made every tobacco grower, 
warehouseman and wholesaler a drug dealer and every smoker a drug user. 
One tobacco farmer asked me to deliver a message to the politically 
correct in Washington, DC. He said,

       Tell the President that I am not a drug dealer, nor is 
     anyone else in the tobacco community. In fact, there are 
     probably fewer drug users among all tobacco growers than 
     there are on the White House staff.

  Another tobacco farmer asked me to urge Clinton to wage war on 
illegal drugs, not tobacco farmers. I traveled across my district 
visiting several tobacco farms and auction warehouses, where hard-
working farmers believe Clinton decided to deflect criticism of the 
staggering increases in illegal teenage drug use by attacking tobacco. 
Mr. Speaker, the farmers of North Carolina are angry. Washington is 
treating them like criminals. They are taxpaying, law-abiding citizens 
who believe the President should keep the FDA off the farm and out of 
NASCAR racing.

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