Patsy T. Mink: “I thank the leadership for allowing me time to address an issue which is very, very important. The Nation has certainly…”

“I thank the leadership for allowing me time to address an issue which is very, very important. The Nation has certainly understood the gravity of the problem of drugs within our communities, within our States, and throughout the whole country. It is a problem that I certainly have recognized in my years of service to this Congress as well as in the local community. But I think, like most citizens, I have more or less assumed that this was a problem that individuals like ourselves could not deal with in any effective way, that we had to rely upon our law enforcement agencies, our Federal Bureau of Investigation, our DEA agents, and the Justice Department, and, in some instances, the State Department to come to grips with this very, very critical and persuasive problem. Not until this year at the beginning of the 106th Congress did I come face to face with the reality that I did indeed, as one Member of this Congress, have a great responsibility for the development of the policy and the course of action and the emphasis and the direction that we would take with regard to the drug problem within our United States.”