[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 15 (Monday, April 13, 1998)]
[Page 626]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7080--National D.A.R.E. Day, 1998

April 9, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Every child is blessed with infinite potential--potential for 
loving, for learning, and for making life better for others. Yet each 
year thousands of young people destroy this potential and risk their 
lives by using illegal substances. That is why the first goal of my 1998 
National Drug Control Strategy is to educate America's young people on 
the dangers of substance abuse and to help them resist the temptations 
of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
    Among our greatest allies in this mission are the parents, teachers, 
students, and police officers participating in Drug Abuse Resistance 
Education (D.A.R.E.), the largest substance abuse prevention and safety 
promotion program in America. This year, millions of children across the 
United States will benefit from the D.A.R.E. curriculum. Under the 
guidance of specially trained veteran police officers, America's 
children from kindergarten through 12th grade learn how to resist peer 
pressure and live productive lives free from violence and substance 
abuse. The D.A.R.E. program is currently being used in almost 75 percent 
of our Nation's school districts and in more than 44 countries around 
the world. And because it is so critical that we reach our young people 
during their most impressionable years, D.A.R.E. has pledged to expand 
into every middle school in our Nation by the year 2001.
    Every American should reinforce D.A.R.E.'s efforts by accepting 
responsibility to join the fight against drugs and violence. Parents 
must set a good example, teach their children right from wrong, and 
educate them about the dangers of substance abuse. Young people 
themselves must have the courage to reject violence and drugs. And we 
must all support our Nation's D.A.R.E. officers in their mission to help 
our children reject illegal drugs. It is only by working together that 
we can create a brighter future for our children, our communities, and 
our Nation.
    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 9, 
1998, as National D.A.R.E. Day. I call upon our youth, parents, and 
educators and all people of the United States to observe this day with 
appropriate programs and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of 
April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:48 a.m., April 10, 
1998]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April 
13.