[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 5, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              NATIONAL DRUG PREVENTION AND EDUCATION WEEK

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 434, and 
the Senate now proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 434) designating the week of February 
     10 through 16, 2008 as ``National Drug Prevention and 
     Education Week.''

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and any 
statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record as if 
given.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 434) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 434

       Whereas recent survey data suggests that illegal drug use 
     among youth has declined by 24 percent since 2001;
       Whereas, despite the reduction in drug use among youth, the 
     number of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders who use drugs remains 
     too high and the rates of prescription and over-the-counter 
     drug abuse are alarming;
       Whereas the overall rate of current illegal drug use among 
     persons aged 12 or older is 8.3 percent, which has remained 
     stable since 2002;
       Whereas ecstasy (methylenedioxy-
     methamphetamine, or MDMA) use among high school age youth has 
     been rising since 2004;
       Whereas, while methamphetamine use is down among 8th, 10th, 
     and 12th graders, many counties across the country still 
     report that methamphetamine is a serious drug problem;
       Whereas 25 percent of youth in the 10th grade reported the 
     use of marijuana during the past year;
       Whereas youth who first smoke marijuana under the age of 14 
     are more than 5 times as likely to abuse drugs in adulthood;
       Whereas nearly 6 percent of 12th graders have used over-
     the-counter cough and cold medications in the past year for 
     the purpose of getting high;
       Whereas Vicodin remains one of the most commonly abused 
     drugs among 12th graders, with 1 in 10 reporting nonmedical 
     use within the past year;
       Whereas teenagers' and parents' lack of understanding of 
     the potential harms of these powerful medicines makes it even 
     more critical to raise public awareness about the dangers 
     associated with their non-medical use;
       Whereas the rates of use for any illegal drug are directly 
     related to the perception of harm and social disapproval;
       Whereas more than 20 years of research has demonstrated 
     that prevention interventions, designed and tested to reduce 
     risk and enhance protective factors, can help children at 
     every step along their developmental path, from early 
     childhood into young adulthood;
       Whereas prevention efforts should be flexible enough to 
     address and prevent local problems before they become 
     national trends;
       Whereas research has demonstrated that there are 4 major 
     targets of prevention: youth, parents, schools (including 
     colleges and universities), and communities and social 
     environments that must be reinforced by each other to have 
     the greatest effect in deterring the consequences of drug 
     use;
       Whereas a comprehensive blend of individually and 
     environmentally focused efforts must be adopted and a variety 
     of strategies must be implemented across multiple sectors of 
     a community to reduce drug use;
       Whereas community anti-drug coalitions are an essential 
     component of any drug prevention and education campaign 
     because they are data driven, know their community 
     epidemiology, and are capable of understanding and 
     implementing the multi-sector interventions required to 
     reduce the availability and use of drugs;
       Whereas community anti-drug coalitions help to change 
     community norms, laws, policies, regulations, and procedures 
     to create an environment that discourages the use of drugs;
       Whereas school-based prevention programs should be part of 
     a comprehensive community wide approach to deal with drug 
     use;
       Whereas the more successful we are at general prevention of 
     drug use in younger adolescents, the less we will have to 
     deal with the concomitant economic and societal consequences 
     of their use;
       Whereas the total economic cost of drug, alcohol, and 
     tobacco abuse in the United States is more than 
     $500,000,000,000;
       Whereas the savings per dollar spent on substance abuse 
     prevention rather than on substance abuse treatment are 
     substantial, and can range from $2.00 to $20.00;
       Whereas there will always be new and emerging drug trends 
     that require additional prevention and education efforts;
       Whereas preventing drug use before it begins and educating 
     the public about the dangers of drug use is a critical 
     component of what must be a consistent and comprehensive 
     effort to stunt and decrease drug use rates throughout the 
     country; and
       Whereas thousands of community anti-drug coalition leaders 
     and community based substance abuse prevention, treatment, 
     and education specialists come to Washington, DC to receive 
     state-of-the-art technical assistance, training, and 
     education on drug prevention at the Community Anti-Drug 
     Coalition of America's Annual National Leadership Forum in 
     February: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) designates the week of February 10-16, 2008, as 
     ``National Drug Prevention and Education Week''; and
       (2) urges communities, schools, parents, and youth to 
     engage in, and carry out, appropriate prevention and 
     education activities and programs to reduce and stop drug use 
     before it starts.

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