[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[January 10, 1992]
[Pages 70-72]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the President's Drug Advisory Council

January 10, 1992
    Thank you all very much for that welcome, and thank you, Bill Moss, 
especially, and thank you for the job you did as Chairman in launching 
the Drug Advisory Council.
    I'm delighted to be home. And you've got to admit, when I get the 
flu, I do it in a very dramatic--[laughter]--way. But it was so 
embarrassing. [Laughter] But I do feel well, a little bit jet-lagged. We 
just flew 12 straight hours from Tokyo. In fact, we got here before we 
took off, if you look at the international dateline. So, you will excuse 
me if I'm a little bit tired. But my health is good, and I am so 
grateful to so many across our wonderful country and then also in Japan 
who, I think, thinking I was a little more seriously sick than I was, 
expressed their concerns. And I just want to say thanks to everybody who 
did that.
    I am delighted to be here. I did not want to go off to Camp David 
without stopping by this very, very important meeting. And I'm glad to 
be here with so many hard workers. I want to single out, of course, Bob 
Martinez, the former Governor of Florida, who is in charge of the 
fiercely committed fighters in our battle to lead America away from 
drugs. You heard from one of these earlier when David Kearns, 
representing Lamar Alexander--David, our outstanding executive there at 
the Department of Education. And in addition, we are very fortunate in a 
Government sense to have the leadership of Attorney General Bill Barr, 
who is working closely with Bob Martinez, with Lou Sullivan, our very 
able Secretary of HHS, intimately involved in all of this. And we are 
trying as a Government to meet this scourge head-on.
    But I believe that the answer lies right here. I know it lies with 
the leadership from Jim Burke who is sitting here at my left. As many of 
you are aware, Jim's done an outstanding job unleashing the power of the 
media through this Partnership for a Drug-Free America. There is no way 
that Government itself could do what this individual has done in getting 
the message, antidrug message, out across this country. We are very, 
very grateful to him.
    I also am sitting next to another tireless worker, very successful 
man, Alvah Chapman, who just took this on to organize this meeting, 
organize this crusade all across the country, providing all of us with 
the vision and leadership this whole coalition movement represents. So, 
my thanks to him.

[[Page 71]]

    I was told by Jim, coming in here, of the many successful efforts 
going in the communities represented here and then some that aren't even 
represented. And so, I want to thank all who have come from all across 
this land to explore this idea of community coalitions gathering 
momentum. And if you needed any inspiration--I didn't get to hear her; 
maybe she hadn't sung yet. But I've heard her many times. She's been our 
guest up at Camp David. If you need a little momentum-gathering, try 
Sandy Patti on for size because she is magnificent.
    Well, let me just say, it is a pleasure to be back, and it was a 
great trip. Ten fascinating days in the Far East talking and listening 
and learning, working hard for the objectives that we all share of 
trying to get this country moving through expanding our exports markets, 
assuring our friends also that we are going to stay actively involved in 
the Pacific. You know, given all the changes in Eastern Europe and the 
hope that is about now because of people that had hated each other over 
the years, been ancient enemies, now talking in the Middle East, some in 
the Pacific area thought that we've just forgone our interests in that 
part of the world. So, I wanted to convince those leaders there that we 
will fulfill our security responsibilities to that critical area, and we 
will stay actively involved with that area, our largest trading partner 
incidentally.
    But I came here today because I really believe that what you do is 
vitally important to the well-being of our country. And I wanted to just 
say this to you: Your Nation recognizes the critically important work of 
your community antidrug coalitions, and your Nation is very, very 
grateful to each and every one of you.
    We are working hard, all of us, all of you, to blast the curse of 
drugs off the face of our map. Our antidrug effort is one of the highest 
priorities of any domestic initiative in the Federal Budget. In 1992, 
our budget proposal called for $11.7 billion for the drug war, an 
increase of 82 percent since the beginning of our administration and an 
11-percent increase since the previous year, one of the largest in the 
entire overall budget.
    In our war, you know the answer, and I understand and think I know 
the answer, we are seeing results. I'm not sure the entire country 
understands this yet, Jim and Alvah, but I believe we are seeing 
results. For 1990, we exceeded our goal for reducing overall drug use. 
We'd hoped for a decrease of 10 percent between '88 and '90, and it fell 
by more than that. I believe the figure was 11 percent. Occasional 
cocaine use went down 29 percent when we'd set a goal--I think again, 
trying to just think positively, I think the goal we had set in our 
minds was 10 percent.
    For 1991, figures show we've even more dramatically exceeded many of 
our goals, particularly in areas like adolescent cocaine use. You know 
and I know there's a problem. It's a horrible thing to think about, 
adolescent cocaine use. But it's out there, and it's tough. And we are 
making headway. We'd hoped to reduce that by 30 percent since 1988, and 
it's fallen more than 60 percent. So, what you're doing is working. What 
you're doing is having an effect and saving the lives of children.
    But let's face it, much remains to be done. More than 12.5 million, 
12.5 million Americans currently still use drugs; 1.9 million of them 
currently use cocaine. And adolescent drug use has fallen, but still 
more than 1.3 million of our kids currently abuse drugs.
    We're also committed to toughening the drug laws. We devote more 
effort to fighting drugs than to any other single area of crime. But we 
cannot do it alone. We need Federal drug laws that are on the side of 
the people. We need a bipartisan effort to help law enforcement protect 
our present and ensure our children's future. As I said 2 years ago when 
we announced the drug strategy, with this drug problem we face the 
toughest challenge in decades. We face the challenge not as partisans 
but as a Nation.
    As we've said time and time again, we cannot win the drug war 
through law enforcement alone. I'm convinced we can do better on law 
enforcement, and I salute those who are out there enforcing our laws. 
But we can't win it through law enforcement alone. We've got to have 
effective treatment programs, and we need national action.

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    More than 2 years ago we established this President's Drug Advisory 
Council. America was lucky, very, very fortunate to gain the wisdom and 
vision of these distinguished American leaders who share our goal of 
ridding this Nation of the devastation caused by illegal drugs. I want 
to give very special thanks today to our Council members who work 
tirelessly to mobilize the enormous power the private sector can wield 
in the war against drugs. Look at this head table, look around, look at 
the names of the people, the men and women who are serving, and you'll 
see we've got very busy, successful people giving of themselves to help 
others.
    In addition, every one of you here today are frontline soldiers in 
our war. You lead this country's local efforts to reduce drug use in the 
workplace, schools, and neighborhoods. We've got a good program. I was 
briefed by Al Casey and others not so long ago, and Jim was up there, in 
Camp David on this drug-free workplace concept. And we're making 
headway. Still a ways to go, but a very fundamental and important part 
of our work.
    You organize your communities into coalitions. The key to healing 
this Nation is found at the grassroots level, being what I call a Point 
of Light, holding your hand out to a neighbor. And this audience today 
certainly exemplifies in the finest sense the willingness of one 
American to reach out and help another.
    As Americans hear your stories, they realize that there is an 
alternative to drugs, and its name is hope. They hear stories of people 
like Brad Gates, the sheriff in Orange County. So concerned was he about 
drug deaths that he created the ``Drug Use is Life Abuse'' program. With 
the business community, he launched a massive drug education effort 
targeted at area youth. And the program works because it changes 
people's attitudes, gets to the fundamental attitude change towards 
drugs.
    And so does Tad Foote's. When he saw how drugs were destroying his 
community, he gathered top business leaders like Alvah Chapman and 
others, the busiest, the most successful, and they formed the Miami 
Coalition, a broad-based community organization. And it was dedicated to 
tackling every aspect of the drug program, divided it into eight task 
forces. They've convinced over one-third of all Miami businesses to 
adopt drug-free workplace policies and employee assistance programs, and 
they have closed down 1500 crack houses. Now, that is success, and that 
is due to the voluntary effort all the way.
    The point is simple: No community, none at all, has to accept drug 
abuse. Americans don't have to live in fear. Drugs and so many other 
social problems can be driven from every community, if every community 
cares enough to reach out and try.
    Americans deserve a lot of credit for their individual and 
collective efforts. But we still have much to do. There are casualties 
in this war. We live in an age when tens of thousands of drug-affected 
babies are born each year. Therein is the real tragedy. Hold in your 
arms one of those babies, and you just can't help but have a broken 
heart. We live in an age when one out of every 4,000 American teens dies 
by his own hand or at someone else's, and too often drugs play a part, a 
fundamental part, in these tragedies. We live in an age when the scourge 
of drugs has cheapened life and threatens to erode the moral fabric of 
this great Nation of ours.
    Well, you've set an example, summed up by the antidrug banners 
created by citizens in Albuquerque that read, ``It's easier to build a 
child than repair an adult.'' With that kind of tough-minded dedication, 
we will win. We will make a difference. Each and every one of you is 
making a difference, and may God bless you all for that.
    Thank you very, very much. And thanks for that warm welcome.

                    Note: The President spoke at 11:41 a.m. at the J.W. 
                        Marriott Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to 
                        Jim Burke, chairman of the Partnership for a 
                        Drug-Free America; Alvah Chapman, Chairman of 
                        the National Coalition Committee of the 
                        President's Drug Advisory Council; and Albert V. 
                        Casey, Council member.