[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 69 (Monday, April 12, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 17939-17940]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-9292]



[[Page 17937]]

_______________________________________________________________________

Part IV





The President





_______________________________________________________________________



Proclamation 7180--National D.A.R.E. Day, 1999
 
 
                         Presidential Documents 
 
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 69 / Monday, April 12, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

 ___________________________________________________________________

 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 17939]]

                Proclamation 7180 of April 8, 1999

                
National D.A.R.E. Day, 1999

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program, 
                founded in 1983 by the Los Angeles Police Department 
                and the Los Angeles Unified School District, helps 
                children across our Nation develop into the bright, 
                talented, and healthy individuals they have the 
                potential to become. The D.A.R.E. curriculum is 
                designed to give children in kindergarten through 12th 
                grade the skills they need to avoid involvement in 
                drugs, gangs, and violence. Taught by community police 
                officers who have the special training and experience 
                necessary to address the difficult issues facing young 
                people, the D.A.R.E. program reaches more than 26 
                million students each day in nearly 75 percent of our 
                Nation's school districts, encouraging young Americans 
                to resist peer pressure and to lead lives free from the 
                shadows of drugs and violence.

                D.A.R.E.'s mission is a crucial one. Drug abuse costs 
                our Nation more than 14,000 lives and billions of 
                dollars each year. A recent study by the Department of 
                Justice confirms that drug use continues to be a factor 
                in crimes such as burglary, auto theft, assault, and 
                murder, and that one in six offenders commits a crime 
                just to get money for drugs. Because of alarming 
                statistics like these, we must focus our efforts not 
                just on those already addicted to drugs, but on all our 
                young people, so that we can reach them before they are 
                exposed to these illegal substances. Working in 
                partnership with parents, teachers, and communities, 
                the D.A.R.E. program conveys to children at an 
                impressionable age a strong message about the dangers 
                of substance abuse and strives to give them the tools 
                and motivation they need to avoid those dangers.

                Expanding on grassroots efforts like D.A.R.E., my 
                Administration's 1999 National Drug Control Strategy 
                provides a comprehensive approach to move us closer to 
                a drug-free America. An important part of this long-
                term plan is our emphasis on educating children. We 
                know that when children understand the dangers of 
                drugs, their rates of drug use decline. Our National 
                Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign and the Safe and Drug-
                Free Schools program focus on helping young Americans 
                reject illegal drugs and violence. In addition, in 
                recent years, we have protected and increased the 
                funding of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program. 
                Coupled with programs like D.A.R.E., these efforts 
                offer us real hope for freeing America's communities 
                from the tragedy of substance abuse and the crime and 
                violence they spawn. By doing so, we will give our 
                children the safe and healthy future they deserve.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United 
                States, do hereby proclaim April 8, 1999, as National 
                D.A.R.E. Day. I call upon our youth, parents, 
                educators, and all the people of the United States to 
                observe this day with appropriate programs and 
                activities.

[[Page 17940]]

                 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen 
                hundred and ninety-nine, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
                third.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-9292
Filed 4-9-99; 11:38 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P