Paul Coverdell: “Mr. President, to me it is illogical--and I have been puzzled throughout the debate--that we would be talking about…”

“Mr. President, to me it is illogical--and I have been puzzled throughout the debate--that we would be talking about teenage addiction in the context of tobacco only. It is not good policy to talk about teenage addiction and leave out the single, most important crisis that teenagers face today, which is drug addiction, drug abuse, and the swirling epidemic that has engulfed our Nation. If we are going to talk about addiction, we must include a component that deals with the Nation's No. 1 teenage problem. Mr. President, in the last 7 years teenage drug abuse has increased by 135 percent--135 percent. Tobacco usage has increased as well--40 percent. That is significant, and we must attack that but not by being silent on a new drug epidemic in the United States. In 1979, 14.1 percent of the population age 12 to 17 were involved in drug use--that is 3.3 million. The Nation got serious and it said we cannot accept this. And by the year 1992, drug use had been driven down by two-thirds, from 14.1 percent down to 5.3 percent.”