Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, there has been an awful lot of discussion about drugs of late. It is in the campaign now, with candidate Dole accusing President Clinton of not paying attention, somehow blaming on him the fact that there appears to be an increase in the use of drugs by teenagers. We watch this political debate and we begin to watch legislating and legislation come forward at this time that really does not do justice to this issue. It should not be about politicking. It should not be about trying to make the public believe that something important is really happening as we look at the drug problem. The fact of the matter is there has not been a war on drugs, and there will never be a war on drugs as long as we do this kind of legislating. We debated for hours about the disparity in crack cocaine and powder cocaine sentencing. We have mandatory sentencing, and the prisons are filling up with young black and Latino males, for the most part, got with one rock cocaine, small amounts of cocaine, thrown into the Federal system in prison, prisons just running over. Where are the big drug dealers? Where are the people who bring in the huge amounts of cocaine? Where are the big time manufacturers of crack? They are not really talked about.”