[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 31 (Thursday, March 19, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1323-H1324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             ILLEGAL DRUGS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gillmor). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I come before the House again this afternoon 
to talk about one of the greatest threats to our Nation and to our 
society. That is the threat of drugs and illegal narcotics. I have 
spoken many times on the floor about this. Today let me review for a 
minute again the history of how we got ourselves into the situation 
where we have a tide of drugs coming into this country and countless 
deaths because of drug abuse and drug misuse.
  First of all, in 1993, when the other party controlled the White 
House, the other body and the House of Representatives, they took 
actions which we are paying for today. First, they cut and almost 
eliminated most of the staff in the drug czar's office. Then they cut 
the military involvement in the war on drugs. Then they decimated and 
cut the source country programs to stop drugs where they are grown and 
where they are produced. Then they appointed a Surgeon General that 
said just say maybe. At probably one of the lowest points we had 
comments replayed by the President who said if he had it to do over 
again, he would inhale.
  We also had a situation that we are looking into now on my 
Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal 
Justice where Federal drug prosecutions in this country are actually 
down and have dropped. Just within the last few weeks, this 
administration took the final blow in certifying Mexico, which is the 
source of 50 percent of the hard drugs entering this country, 
certifying them, making them eligible for benefits of the United States 
trade, aid, and foreign assistance.
  It just is not right. The results are incredible. Listen to these 
statistics. Since 1992, drug use among teens has skyrocketed 70 
percent. Half of high school seniors think that it is easy to obtain 
cocaine and LSD in a national survey. Eighth grade drug use has 
increased by 150 percent since 1992. One out of 4 high school seniors 
is currently a user of illegal drugs.
  I come from central Florida, a beautiful area in our Nation. Let me 
tell Members what has happened in my community, a rather prosperous 
district in central Florida, is doing very well and economically well 
placed. But in Orlando, in 1995, we ranked fifth in the Nation in 
cocaine deaths per capita. Orange County and Osceola counties in 
central Florida led our State in heroin deaths per capita in 1996. 
Cocaine deaths in Orlando went up in 1996 to 87 from an already high 
number of 75. Tampa and St. Petersburg had a combined 91 deaths in 
1997. The wholesale price of heroin in central Florida has dropped 
dramatically from 1991 to 1997.
  Let me tell Members what Republicans have done. We have restored some 
of the Clinton cuts from the 1993 to 1995 period. We have gotten our 
military back into the war. We have restarted our source country 
interdiction and eradication programs. We have passed tougher laws. We 
think tougher laws work. You can spend a lot of money. But look at New 
York City with a Republican mayor, Rudy Giuliani. In just a few years 
with tough enforcement and tough prosecution, they have dramatically 
dropped the crime and incidence of drug abuse and use in that city.
  Tomorrow in central Florida we initiate a HIDTA. It is called a high 
intensity drug trafficking initiative. That program is a Federal 
program,

[[Page H1324]]

but it is combined, bringing Federal resources with State, local and 
prosecutorial forces together to have tough enforcement in central 
Florida. If you do drugs in central Florida, you are going to do jail. 
We are going to arrest you. We are going to make it tough on you.
  Tomorrow in central Florida, we hope to take a lead in stopping this 
rash of drug trafficking, this rash of deaths from heroin, cocaine 
overdoses among our youth. I know you can get tough. I know it will 
work.
  In closing, let me tell Members a little example. Out here at First 
Street there is an Officer Thompson. Everyone knows about Officer 
Thompson because if you jaywalk at his corner and his beat, he enforces 
the law. So very few people, Capitol staff or Members, ever jaywalk 
where Officer Thompson is, because he is a tough enforcer of current 
laws. That is what we are going to do in central Florida. That is what 
we need to do in the United States of America, is stop drugs at their 
source. If you do drugs, you are going to do time. We are going to 
enforce the laws of this country.

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