[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 25, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H619-H620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




1997 NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
                             UNITED STATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection, referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Agriculture, the Committee 
on Banking and Financial Services, the Committee on Commerce, the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce, the Committee on Government 
Reform and Oversight, the Committee on International Relations, the 
Committee on National Security, the Committee on Resources, the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Ways and Means:

To the Congress of the United States:
  I am pleased to transmit the 1997 National Drug Control Strategy to 
the Congress. This strategy renews our bipartisan commitment to 
reducing drug abuse and its destructive consequences. It reflects the 
combined and coordinated Federal effort that is directed by National 
Drug Control Policy Director Barry McCaffrey and includes every 
department and over 50 agencies. It enlists all State and local leaders 
from across the country who must share in the responsibility to protect 
our children and all citizens from the scourge of illegal drugs.
  In the 1996 National Drug Control Strategy, we set forth the basis of 
a coherent, rational, long-term national effort to reduce illicit drug 
use and its consequences. Building upon that framework, the 1997 
National Drug Control Strategy adopts a 10-year national drug-control 
strategy that includes quantifiable measures of effectiveness. The use 
of a long-term strategy, with annual reports to the Congress and 
consistent outreach to the American people on our progress, will allow 
us to execute a dynamic, comprehensive plan for the Nation and will 
help us to achieve our goals.
  We know from the past decade of Federal drug control efforts that 
progress in achieving our goals will not occur overnight. But our 
success in reducing casual drug use over the last decade demonstrates 
that drug abuse is not an incurable social ill. Thanks to the 
bipartisan efforts of the Congress and the past three administrations, 
combined with broad-based efforts of citizens and communities 
throughout the United States, we have made tremendous progress since 
the 1970's in reducing drug use.
  Nonetheless, we are deeply concerned about the rising trend of drug 
use by young Americans. While overall use of drugs in the United States 
has fallen dramatically--by half  in 15 years--adolescent drug abuse 
continues to rise. That is why the number one goal of our strategy is 
to motivate America's youth to reject illegal drugs and substance 
abuse.

  Our strategy contains programs that will help youth to recognize the 
terrible risks associated with the use of illegal substances. The 
cornerstone of this effort will be our national media campaign that 
will target our youth with a consistent anti-drug message. But 
government cannot do this job alone. We challenge the national media 
and entertainment industry to join us--by renouncing the glamorization 
of drug abuse and realistically portraying its consequences.
  All Americans must accept responsibility to teach young people that 
drugs are wrong, drugs are illegal, and drugs are deadly. We must renew 
our commitment to the drug prevention strategies that deter first-time 
drug use and halt the progression from alcohol and tobacco use to 
illicit drugs.
  While we continue to teach our children the dangers of drugs, we must 
also increase the safety of our citizens by substantially reducing 
drug-related crime and violence. At the beginning of my Administration, 
we set out to change this country's approach to crime by putting more 
police officers on our streets, taking guns out of the hands of 
criminals and juveniles, and breaking the back of violent street gangs. 
We are making a difference. For the fifth year in a row serious crime 
in this country has declined. This is the longest period of decline in 
over 25 years. But our work is far from done and we must continue to 
move in the right direction.
  More than half of all individuals brought into the Nation's criminal 
justice systems have substance abuse problems. Unless we also break the 
cycle of drugs and violence, criminal addicts will end up back on the 
street, committing more crimes, and back in the criminal justice 
system, still hooked on drugs. The criminal justice system should 
reduce drug demand--not prolong or tolerate it. Our strategy implements 
testing and sanctions through coerced abstinence as a way to reduce the 
level of drug use in the population of offenders under criminal justice 
supervision, and thereby reduce the level of other criminal behavior.

  Our strategy supports the expansion of drug-free workplaces, which 
have proven so successful and we will continue to seek more effective, 
efficient, and accessible drug treatment to ensure that we are 
responsive to emerging drug-abuse trends.
  We must continue to shield America's air, land, and sea frontiers 
from the drug threat. By devoting more resources to protecting the 
Southwest border than ever before, we are increasing drug seizures, 
stopping drug smugglers, and disrupting major drug trafficking 
operations. We must continue our interdiction efforts, which have 
greatly disrupted the trafficking patterns of cocaine smugglers and 
have blocked the free flow of cocaine through the western Caribbean 
into Florida and the Southeast.
  Our comprehensive effort to reduce the drug flow cannot be limited to 
seizing drugs as they enter the United States. We must persist in our 
efforts to break foreign and domestic sources of supply. We know that 
by working with source and transit nations, we can greatly reduce 
foreign supply. International criminal narcotics organizations are a 
threat to our national security. But if we target these networks, we 
can dismantle them--as we did the Cali Cartel.
  We will continue to oppose all calls for the legalization of illicit 
drugs. Our vigilance is needed now more than ever. We will continue to 
ensure that all Americans have access to safe and effective medicine. 
However, the current drug legalization movement sends the wrong message 
to our children. It undermines the concerted efforts of parents, 
educators, businesses, elected leaders, community groups, and others to 
achieve a healthy, drug-free society.
  I am confident that the national challenge of drug abuse can be met 
by extending our strategic vision into the future, educating citizens, 
treating addiction, and seizing the initiative in dealing with 
criminals who traffic not only in illegal drugs but in human misery and 
lost lives.
  Every year drug abuse kills 14,000 Americans and costs taxpayers 
nearly

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$70 billion. Drug abuse fuels spouse and child abuse, property and 
violent crime, the incarceration of young men and women, the spread of 
AIDS, workplace and motor vehicle accidents, and absenteeism in the 
work force.
  For our children's sake and the sake of this Nation, this menace must 
be confronted through a rational, coherent, cooperative, and long-range 
strategy. I ask the Congress to join me in a partnership to carry out 
this national strategy to reduce illegal drug use and its devastating 
impact on America.
                                                   William J. Clinton  
  The White House, February 25, 1997.

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