[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4527]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   RECOGNIZING THE 25TH ANNUAL PRIDE YOUTH WORLD ANTI-DRUG CONFERENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ROB PORTMAN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 11, 2002

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the over 4,500 
youth and adult participants of the 2002 PRIDE (Parents Resource 
Institute for Drug Education) World Drug Prevention Conference 
currently being held in Cincinnati, Ohio. The PRIDE conference is the 
world's largest youth conference focusing on drug and violence 
prevention and one of the few that provides a forum where youth and 
adults meet to find solutions.
  PRIDE was started in 1977 with the primary goal of educating, 
promoting and supporting drug free youth who care for the safety and 
health of self, peers, family and community. Today, as PRIDE celebrates 
its 25th anniversary as an organization dedicated to youth, it enjoys 
one of its most successful conferences to date. This year's 
participants represent 40 countries, many ethnic groups, as well as 
urban, suburban and rural communities. I am pleased to serve as PRIDE 
statewide co-chair along with Hope Taft, First Lady of Ohio, and 
Luceille Fleming, Director of the Ohio Department of Drug and Alcohol 
Prevention. The Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati, an 
organization I and other community leaders founded in 1996, has acted 
as a local partner.
  The 2002 conference has drawn an impressive host of nationally 
recognized speakers including John Walters, Director of the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy; Hope Taft, First Lady of Ohio; Ruth 
Sanchez-Way, Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention; 
Charles Currie, Director of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration; Major General Arthur Dean, Chairman/CEO Community Anti-
Drug Coalitions of America.
  The conference offers numerous workshops that help youth learn how to 
be leaders in their schools and communities, and teaches techniques 
that can be used to encourage peers to maintain a healthy and 
substance-free lifestyle. Importantly, the conference also demonstrates 
that, although there is still a great deal of work to do in the 
struggle to keep our youth off drugs and away from alcohol and tobacco, 
the majority of our teens are making responsible decisions regarding 
substance abuse and deserve to be commended for their efforts.
  Teen alcohol and drug abuse has a devastating effect on families and 
communities nationwide. Youth PRIDE participants, as well as the 
parents, coaches and other mentors who help guide them, deserve 
accolades for their willingness to act as leaders with regard to this 
often difficult decision to stand up and be recognized as a model for 
healthy, substance free living.
  The 25th annual PRIDE conference has also provided a unique 
partnership between the Cincinnati Police Department, the Hamilton 
County Prosecutor's Office, and Cincinnati CAN that has raised over 
$40,000 to provide scholarships for 200 Cincinnati youth to attend the 
conference. This has been a remarkable opportunity for the youth who, 
without this generous assistance, would have been unable to attend the 
conference. We congratulate these organizations for their community 
partnerships that help to reduce demand for drugs and alcohol.
  All of us in Greater Cincinnati are pleased to welcome such an 
important conference to our area and thank all of the youths and adults 
who have worked to make the 2002 PRIDE conference a success.

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