Political Quotes

“Today I rise to introduce an important resolution designating the week of February 10-16, 2008 as National Drug Prevention and Education Week. While we have made progress in curbing the rate of illegal drug use among teens in this country, there remains a great deal of work to be done. Key components of staying on top of emerging drug threats and lowering the overall rate of drug use in this country are prevention and education. These efforts start at the local level and this resolution encourages communities, schools, parents, and youth to engage in and carry out community-based prevention and education activities and programs to reduce and stop drug use before it starts. We have come a long way in combating drug use in this country, in large part because of the good work of so many talented professionals in the prevention and treatment fields. However, the rates of illegal drug use among teens and adults remains too high. The overall rate of current illegal drug use among persons aged 12 or older is 8.3 percent, which has remained stable since 2002.”