[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 36 (Monday, September 13, 1993)]
[Pages 1719-1720]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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Proclamation 6588--National D.A.R.E. Day, 1993 and 1994

 September 9, 1993

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    America's young people face some daunting challenges. One of the 
most difficult decisions they have to make is whether or not to use 
drugs. The signals they receive in this country, where only 5 percent of 
the world's population consumes approximately 50 percent of the world's 
illegal drugs, often encourage them to gamble away their future on the 
false security of momentary escape.
    In the knowledge-based world of today, their future, as well as the 
future of America, rests on education. The successes in Europe and Asia 
have taught us that the nation most equipped to compete in the 21st 
century will be the nation that can best educate its children. Our 
students must be properly prepared to enter school and encouraged to 
complete their studies. They must be taught responsibility for 
themselves and their community. They must be first in math and science, 
as well as in literacy and vocational skills. Perhaps most important, 
they must be given safe classrooms, where they are free to hope for a 
bright future and where they are not bound in fear to a dark present.
    Our National Education Goals were formulated to give America's 
educators, parents, and students solid objectives in the field of 
education. Goal 6 of the National Education Goals demands that we 
develop safe, disciplined, and drug-free schools by the year 2000. My 
Goals 2000: Educate America Act provides the framework for our educators 
to reach all of these goals, but until we are successful at achieving 
Goal 6, we will be unable to implement any of our other education 
objectives.
    Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.), a program developed by 
the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School 
District to prevent drug use, now reaches 25 million students from 
Kindergarten to 12th grade in all 50 states. This program also touches 
youth in Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, Canada, Puerto Rico, 
the Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, Hungary, and Department 
of Defense Dependent Schools worldwide.
    Taught by veteran police officers, D.A.R.E. aims to prevent 
substance abuse among school-age children by providing accurate 
information about alcohol and drugs, by teaching decision-making skills, 
by educating students about the consequences of their actions, and by 
building self-esteem. Our students often need the influence and 
attention of these dedicated officers to combat the peer pressure they 
face every day on the streets.
    In recognition of this anti-drug program's promotion of cooperation 
among law enforcement, schools, officials, students, and parents, the 
Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 99, has designated September 9, 
1993, and April 21, 1994, as ``National D.A.R.E. Day'' and has requested 
the President to issue a proclamation in observance of these days.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim September 9, 1993, and April 21, 
1994, as National D.A.R.E. Day. I call upon the people of the United 
States, government officials, educators, and volunteers to observe the 
day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of 
September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and eighteenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:08 a.m., September 
10, 1993]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on September 10, and it was published in the Federal Register 
on September 13.

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