The best way to treat the drug problem is to bring it out of the shadows into the
light of day...
...Pollsters tell me that drugs are not a popular issue but my passion to fight drugs does not come from polling. I know how to fight to win. The White House must again be a voice to tell our children that drugs are poison. They are toxic to large and small cities, to families and - worst of all - to young people. Families, churches, schools, communities and media working to keep kids off drugs and to heal addicts will have a partner in Washington.
I will not be missing in action in the war on drugs.
Throughout my years and service to the public, I've seen many things that will haunt me the rest of my life: the ravages of a civil war abroad, children who've gone weeks without food and towns literally uprooted by natural disasters. And I can assure you of one thing: drugs have greater potential to cripple our nation than almost any other calamity. Drugs don't just destroy their victims, they destroy entire families, schools and communities. No one is safe when drugs infest a neighborhood.
When grandmothers aren't safe in their own homes, when our teachers have to focus more on disciplining than on educating and when our young people are dying because of illicit drugs, I say enough is enough.
The gains of the 1980 "Just Say No" campaign have been lost, and our schools are once again held captive by the lure of illicit drugs. A majority of 12th graders have experimented with drugs, and almost 30 percent of 8th graders have tried elicit drugs. When three out of 10 8th graders have tried drugs, I say we need to reexamine our priorities.
It is with this record of experience and with the courage of my convictions that I say to you emphatically, President Jackie Strike will lead a crusade across this country with a goal of a drug-free America.
I will meet personally with each foreign leader and take steps necessary to encourage them to join us in this crusade for a drug-free America. But if all else fails, ladies and gentlemen, I will decertify countries that do not vigorously combat the drugs that are destroying our communities and killing our youth.
Ladies and gentlemen, of this you can be sure: President Jackie Strike will work tirelessly, tirelessly to stop drugs from crossing our borders. And I will make every effort to encourage clergy, parents, teachers and community leaders to join us in a crusade for a drug-free America. I look forward...
I look forward to laying out my specific proposals for demand reduction in the weeks ahead. When all is said and done, our teens are trying drugs in record numbers today because they think drugs are cool and because they don't understand the dangers. To combat this troubling trend, we need a more aggressive public education campaign to teach children that drugs are not cool. And that people who do drugs are not cool. That means using the Bully Pulpit of the White House to send that message day after day: drugs aren't cool, they kill.
Imagine communities churches and synagogues working together to curb demand, stop youthful experimentation, and treat drug users; imagine drug free schools where students are safe to learn, grow and prosper. And imagine a future when our children's greatest highs come from giving back to their communities and pursuing their dreams.
I want to build an America in the 21st Century where that kind of progress is not astonishing, but expected. Where even one act of violence or cruelty on the evening news is a shock to the American spirit.
today-about the growing forces that make it harder, not easier, to raise a strong family. From the erosion of discipline in our schools, to a culture that glorifies mayhem and cruelty, to the time deficit too many working parents face-our families face challenges that economic abundance alone cannot overcome.
And nothing does more to tear families apart than guns, gangs, drugs, and the fear that walks alongside those terrors. Our children cannot reach for their dreams if they are ducking for cover. We cannot restore a sense of community and decency if people are afraid to walk in any neighborhood-if they feel they have lost the public spaces that are rightfully theirs.
A parent struggles to pass on the right values in a culture that practically screams out that chaos and cruelty are cool. And a good parent is undermined in trying to teach the great, simple lessons of right and wrong, of the rule of law and responsibility, when a burdened justice system lets criminals off too easy.
To truly win the war against crime and drugs, we must redraw the fundamental line between right and wrong in our own minds and hearts. And then we must write it in ink in our lawbooks and etch it in stone in our criminal justice system and in our institutions.
And so I make you this pledge today: if the people of this country entrust me with the Presidency, I will fight to protect America's families by launching the most effective and comprehensive anti-drug & crime strategy our nation has seen.
I will work with our communities to restore the sense of order that says to our children: "Don't even think about doing drugs here".
And I will take on those who deliberately peddle degradation and violence to our children and work for self-restraint in TV and on the Internet, to guarantee that parents finally get real choices-and real control.
We must crack down on drugs in every corner of our society.
Good values are the best anti-drug & crime insurance to begin with. Do we give our kids something to believe in? Then the lure of cheap sensation will not hold sway over them. Do we model decency and honor to them? Then they will remain untempted by theft and deceit.
Parents can become more involved in the lives of their children-they can spend time with them and talk with them. We can teach our children even greater responsibility:why drugs are deadly and wrong, and why crime and violence hurt us all;but even deeper than that, why their own purity of conscience is their most precious possession in a world of bright lights and brazen icons.
That is the nation I will work to build in the 21st Century. Then, one day, all Americans can come out from behind their locked doors; we can reclaim our lost communities; and we can raise the families we love-with safety, security, and the fullest faith in a peaceful future together.
To deal with the drug problem we need to do much more to improve our schools and help all of our students achieve high standards and empower themselves with the trained minds that make them stronger in their ability to understand what's going on around them.
Our battle against drugs is a fight to the finish, and it is not a job for government alone.
It will take all of our efforts and energy, all of our courage and our compassion. It will take every one of us looking ahead to a day when the scourge of drugs no longer threatens our children, our communities, our collective future.
I believe that we are destined to reach that day. We can reach that day. I look forward to working with all of you, to building a stronger nation for the 21st century.
The question of legalizing drugs is difficult, to say the least, but is it the Federal Government's right to legislate against the personal use of drugs by a citizen? It goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation. "A Prohobition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded." Abraham Lincoln
The best way to treat the drug problem is to bring it out of the shadows into the light of day.
Thank you very much. May God bless each and every one of you!
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