Porter Goss: “Despite a decade of steady progress in combating drug use and drug abuse during the 1980's, the situation appears to…”

“Despite a decade of steady progress in combating drug use and drug abuse during the 1980's, the situation appears to have taken somewhat of a dramatic turn for the worse since the early 1990's, and that is why we are here. In my view, that is because the administration has accepted stalemate in the war on drugs rather than pressing on for the victory that everybody in America wants. So now Congress is going to take charge. We are going to set some tough goals for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. I am very concerned and I know many parents and all Americans are concerned about the permissive attitude toward drug use that once again seems to be spreading out across our country. We need to have leadership that says drugs are not cool, drug use is not acceptable, it will not be tolerated. That is what this bill is about. We set some performance measures to judge the success of the administration's efforts. By 2001 under our program, we expect drug use to be at 3 percent of the population or lower. We expect an 80 percent reduction in the supply of illegal drugs. We expect a reduction of 50 percent in drug-related crime and drug-related emergency room visits.”