Jack Kingston: “I wanted to talk tonight a little bit about the growing debate about the drug war and talk about some of the things that…”

“I wanted to talk tonight a little bit about the growing debate about the drug war and talk about some of the things that this Congress has done to combat the drug problem in America and the youth. I think there are two things that we need to keep in mind. One is the statistics, and the other is the recent salvo of the Clinton administration about tobacco. I, like you, have young children. I am concerned about my children smoking at early ages and I am concerned about the health problems of smoking and so forth. But why did Bill Clinton come out so strong now, on the eve of an election, against tobacco when he has had the Presidency for 4 years? Why suddenly? One of the suggestions that people have, and I think this is a legitimate, it goes back to when Bill Clinton was talking on national TV on MTV, the music television show which gets a huge audience of, say, 13 to 20-year-olds, I will watch it every now and then myself, it is good, it is not just those ages; they have some good programs; of course they have some other things that are pretty questionable.”