Chuck Grassley: “What responsible parent has not forgone something he or she wanted for the benefit of a child? We make sacrifices today…”

“What responsible parent has not forgone something he or she wanted for the benefit of a child? We make sacrifices today for the tomorrows of our children. We defer doing things, we give up buying something, we go out of our way. But it is not just in our own lives that we do things for our children's sake. We support public education. We pass safety laws. We take steps to ensure the well-being of kids. We do this out of responsibility as parents. We do this as members of a civilized community that knows the importance of investing in its future through future generations. Those of us who are adults today benefited from the efforts and sacrifices our parents made on our behalf. And their parents before them. It is in acknowledgment of these simple truths that I wanted to talk briefly about this Nation's drug problems. I want to talk about the serious challenge that we face to the health and well-being of our tomorrows in the lives of our children today. While we were out on the recent recess, something happened that needs concern us. In essence that was the advancement of an effort to legalize drugs in this country. It was not a fair fight. The American public, overwhelmingly, in just about every opinion vehicle I can think of, has indicated its enduring opposition to drug legalization. The well-funded legalization lobby knows this. They know they cannot fight for legalization on the merits. They cannot tell the truth about what their real agenda is.”