[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 10, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H10115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              DRUG USE BY TEENAGERS IS A NATIONAL TRAGEDY

  (Mr. WICKER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WICKER. Madam Speaker, drug use is up, and the response from the 
White House is a plea not to make an issue out of it. Our children are 
getting hooked earlier and at rates never before seen in the history of 
this Nation. Overall drug use among 12- to 17-year-olds is up 78 
percent since 1992.
  But look at these figures. In just 1 year, 1994 to 1995, marijuana 
use in the same age group is up 37 percent; LSD use, again in just 1 
year, up 105 percent; cocaine use, 12- to 17-year-olds, from 1994 to 
1995 is up 166 percent. This is a tragedy, a national tragedy. We are 
losing a generation of children right before our very eyes. Drugs 
destroy families and they destroy lives.
  Madam Speaker, this is no time to run and hide. We need to make sure 
that children can grow up in an environment where cocaine, LSD, and 
pot-smoking are not part of their daily surroundings.

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