    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [February 12, 2002]
    [Pages 219-220]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the Congress Transmitting the 2002 National Drug Control
    Strategy
    February 12, 2002

    To the Congress of the United States:
        I am pleased to transmit the 2002 National Drug Control Strategy,
    consistent with the Office of National Drug Control Policy
    Reauthorization Act of 1998 (21 U.S.C. 1705).
        Illegal drug use threatens everything that is good about our
    country. It can break the bonds between parents and children. It can
    turn productive citizens into addicts, and it can transform schools into
    places of violence and chaos. Internationally, it finances the work of
    terrorists who use drug profits to fund their murderous work. Our fight
    against illegal drug use is a fight for our children's future, for
    struggling democracies, and against terrorism.
        We have made progress in the past. From 1985 to 1992, drug use among
    high school seniors dropped each year. Progress was steady and, over
    time, dramatic. However, in recent years we have lost ground. This
    Strategy represents the first step in the return of the fight against
    drugs to the center of our national agenda. We must do this for one
    great moral reason: over time, drugs rob men, women, and children of
    their dignity and of their character.
        We acknowledge that drug use among our young people is at
    unacceptably high levels. As a Nation, we know how to teach character,
    and how to dissuade children from ever using illegal drugs. We need to
    act on that knowledge.
        This Strategy also seeks to expand the drug treatment system, while
    recognizing that even the best treatment program cannot help a drug user
    who does not seek its assistance. The Strategy also recognizes the vital
    role of law enforcement and interdiction programs, while focusing on the
    importance of attacking the drug trade's key vulnerabilities.
        Previous Strategies have enjoyed bipartisan political and funding
    support in the

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    Congress. I ask for your continued support in this critical endeavor.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     February 12, 2002.