[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 50 (Monday, December 17, 2007)]
[Pages 1578-1581]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Discussion on Teen Drug Use Statistics

December 11, 2007

    Thank you. Please be seated. Welcome to the White House. Director 
Walters and Dr. Volkow, thank you for joining me. We've got the 
Ambassador de Mexico y tambien Colombia--thanks for coming. I appreciate 
you all being here. Where are the--Embajador, bienvenidos--los dos. 
Thank you all for coming. I appreciate the students from Brown Academy 
for joining us. I want to thank officials in my administration for being 
here. I welcome our honored guests.
    I am pleased to be here with the men and women who have enlisted, 
have signed up, in our country's fight against illegal drugs. You battle 
an unrelenting evil that ruins families, endangers neighborhoods, and 
stalks our children. You're part of a mission that will shape our 
Nation's future. You're fulfilling the highest calling of citizenship; 
you're giving your fellow Americans the chance for a better life. And I 
thank you for your good and noble work.
    I've just come from a roundtable--or was it a square table--but 
either way, it was a table--[laughter]--where I met with community 
activists and youth leaders, people who've heard a call to answer our 
Nation's need to be engaged in a fierce battle against drug abuse--those 
who encourage it and those who profit from it. The drug trade has 
enriched our society's enemies. It has funded acts of terror. It feeds 
an addiction that causes some Americans to turn to crime.
    When I took office, our country was facing a troubling rate of drug 
use among young people. A new generation was in danger of being swept up 
in a cycle of addiction, crime, and hopelessness. This was a looming 
crisis, and I felt it required an aggressive response.
    And so in 2002, I committed our Nation to an ambitious goal to cut 
drug use amongst young people by 25 percent over a 5-year period. John 
Walters agreed with that goal. He's been in charge of leading an effort 
to achieve that goal. We took a tough and balanced approach. We would 
cut the supply of drugs coming to our country through aggressive action 
by law enforcement personnel and international partners. We would fight 
the demand for drugs here at home through prevention and treatment. In 
other words, our strategy was balance. On the one hand, we'll interdict 
and prevent and disrupt the drug supply networks, and on the other hand, 
we'll work to convince people they shouldn't use drugs in the first 
place. And those that

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have, there's prevention--or there's recovery programs for you.
    This strategy has had promising results. This morning I was briefed 
on the latest ``Monitoring the Future'' study, which tracks drug use 
amongst America's youth. It reports that since 2001, the overall use of 
illicit drugs by young people has dropped by 24 percent. Marijuana use 
fell by 25 percent, steroid use by a third, and the use of ecstasy by 54 
percent. The most encouraging statistic relates to the use of 
methamphetamine, which has plummeted by an impressive 64 percent since 
2001.
    One exception to this trend is a rise in the abuse of certain 
prescription painkillers. This is troubling, and we're going to continue 
to confront the challenge. Yet the overall direction is hopeful. Because 
Americans took action, today, there are an estimated 860,000 fewer 
children using drugs than 6 years ago. Because Americans took action, 
because grassroots activists stood up and said, ``We've had enough,'' 
because law enforcement worked hard, communities are safer, families are 
stronger, and more children have the hope of a healthy and happy life.
    This is a remarkable achievement, and it is a tribute to the work of 
a lot of really good people. I'd like to remind people, government can 
rally; government can fund; but the true work is done at the grassroots 
level. We've got representatives from our law enforcement organizations 
who are with us today. They've risked their lives to cut the supply of 
drugs to our streets. Over the past 6 years, they have seized record 
amounts of cocaine coming into the United States. I see that Admiral 
Allen is here from the United States Coast Guard. They've got people out 
there on those cutters in the high seas doing incredibly important work. 
Admiral, you thank those troops for all they're doing.
    We've worked with our allies to stop their drugs coming in from 
Colombia. And Madam Ambassador, you need to thank your strong President 
for leading the fight against drugs in Colombia.
    We're working with the President of Mexico, Mr. Ambassador, and 
we're helping that man take the lead. He made some tough decisions and 
courageous decisions. He's led an unprecedented assault against drug 
organizations in Mexico, and we want to continue to work together. We 
got to have a strategy on both sides of the border to deal with a common 
problem. So I want to thank you both for being here. Pass word on to 
your bosses that I admire their courage and appreciate their hard work.
    I appreciate the fact that our drug enforcement focused on meth, and 
therefore, we have a dramatic drop. You might remember, a while ago, 
that methamphetamine seemed to be a--just running so rampant that people 
were worried that we could never get our--get a handle on it. And yet 
there's been a dramatic drop. A lot of it has to do with the fact that 
our law enforcement officers, in both urban and rural settings, are on 
the frontline of disrupting the suppliers.
    They appreciate the fact that we're dismantling drug trafficking 
operations. We're seizing supplies, and we're putting the peddlers of 
poisons where they belong, and that is behind bars. Appreciate your 
outstanding service. For all those who wear the uniform of law 
enforcement, our Nation owes you a great debt of gratitude.
    At home, countless Americans have worked to reduce the demand of 
illegal drugs. It's one thing to affect supply, but when you reduce 
demand, it affects the capacity of people to supply. In other words, if 
we have people--fewer people using, there's not going to be a need to 
supply as much. On the frontlines of this efforts are parents, are 
teachers, are counselors who are sending our kids a clear message: Drug 
use is not fun; it is not glamorous; it is harmful. And I want to thank 
those who are making that a clear message. Drugs destroys lives.
    This addiction is hard to break. It's a hard thing to break a drug 
addiction. Yet many Americans are breaking it. With us today are some 
young people who have fought to win this difficult struggle. And we met 
with them, and I want to talk about two of them. I asked their 
permission, and they said, ``That's fine, Mr. President. You can--you go 
ahead and lay our stories out.'' And the reason I want to do so is 
because I want others to hear the stories of two youngsters who made an 
incredibly tough decision to save their life.

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    First is Sara Johnson. She started using drugs when she was 12 years 
old. As her addiction grew, she would steal drugs from medicine cabinets 
without even knowing what the drugs were. She pawned things to get money 
so she could go out on the streets to buy drugs. And she hit bottom, and 
she was scared. Yet she summoned up the courage to get treatment. And 
she didn't like the treatment at first. She told me that after about 6 
months, she decided she wanted to leave without permission. [Laughter] 
Then she reassessed her life. She made a personal choice and went back 
into treatment. And she is in recovery, and she's working for a better 
life. I said: ``What do you want to be, now that you've made this 
incredibly important step in your life at a young age? Do you have a 
goal?'' She said, ``Plastic surgeon.'' Then she looked at me, and I 
thought for a minute she said, ``Well, you could use a little work, Mr. 
President.'' [Laughter] But Sara, thank you for your courage. I'm proud 
you're here. You might just stand up and let the people take a look at 
you. Thank you.
    Hear the story of Justin Calderon. He was raised by a mom who had a 
serious drug addiction. Drugs crowd out love and responsibility. If you 
love drugs more than you love your child, serious problems can arise, 
and this is a man who knows it firsthand. He spent his childhood on the 
streets, seeking drugs and committing crimes to support his habit. One 
night, he was alone in a jail cell, and after years of addiction and 
struggle, he told himself, he said, ``You are better than this.'' And so 
he's in a recovery program. He's been off drugs for a year. He plans to 
go back to school. And what he wants to do is to give back to society by 
helping other young people fight drug addiction. Bienvenidos; welcome.
    Two joyous souls who are inspiring others--I told them, I said, you 
just don't know whose lives you've touched, but you have touched the 
President's life. But there's somebody paying attention to you. And so 
thanks for leading.
    So today we celebrate progress against substance abuse. We also know 
that this work is not finished. There's still a lot more work to be 
done. Thousands of children still live in homes torn apart by drugs. 
Thousands more are still considering whether to try drugs for the first 
time. It's up to all Americans to be involved in this important struggle 
against drug addiction. It's up to all of us to urge our fellow citizens 
to make the right choice and to help those who make the wrong choice 
understand the consequences and that there is a more hopeful future.
    In this effort, we need more help from role models that our kids 
look up to. It's really important for professional sports associations 
to continue to crack down on drug abuse by athletes. And it's important 
that more people in Hollywood stand up and send a right message to our 
children.
    All Americans have a responsibility to encourage people to turn away 
from the losing spiral of addiction and to make good choices in life. 
But the great thing about our country and the reason I'm so optimistic 
is there are thousands and thousands of people willing to take the lead 
in their own communities, people who have seen a problem and said, 
``We're going to do something about it.'' Like this good woman right 
here from eastern Kentucky. She said, ``We live in rural America, and we 
got a significant prescription drug problem that's affecting every 
family in that area.'' And so instead of wringing her hands, she said, 
``I think I'm going to do something about it,'' and has led the charge. 
We can help, but it's her initiative, along with thousands of others who 
have stepped up and said, ``We're going to save lives one soul at a 
time.'' Why? Because they love America, and they love their neighbor 
just like they'd like to be loved themselves.
    This mission of dealing with drug abuse is worthy of a great people 
and a great nation. It's a worthy mission. It is a struggle that 
requires us to confront torment with patience, weakness with 
understanding, and evil with resolve, hope, and love.
    I want to thank you all for being a part of this great effort. I 
thank John and all those in the grassroots for accomplishing an 
important goal. I urge you to continue staying in this battle. I say to 
our young folks: Make the right choice in life, and you can realize your 
dreams here in the United States of America.
    Thank you for being here. God bless America.

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Note: The President spoke at 10:33 a.m. in Room 450 of the Dwight D. 
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to 
Nora D. Volkow, Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse; Ambassador 
to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana and President Felipe de Jesus 
Calderon Hinojosa of Mexico; Ambassador to the U.S. Carolina Barco 
Isakson and President Alvaro Uribe Velez of Colombia; and Karen Engle, 
executive director, Operation UNITE.