Chuck Grassley: “I have spoken a number of times, last year and this year, on the need for a sound drug policy. We have entered a time…”

“I have spoken a number of times, last year and this year, on the need for a sound drug policy. We have entered a time, of course, when more teenagers are using drugs. It is a very serious problem. When more teenagers see no serious harm or wrong in using drugs, it seems to me that we cannot simply accept these facts in silence. We need to ask ourselves if we are prepared to see a repeat of the drug epidemic of the late 1960's and 1970's that claimed so many lives. It was an epidemic that destroyed so many young people and, of course, it brought a cycle of enduring pain to their respective families. Of course, I do not believe that we can afford to remain silent. It is not a responsible policy to be silent. It certainly is not effective leadership to preside over a repeat of what we know to have been a social disaster of epic proportions. To today's ears, this may sound like exaggeration, but a brief reminder might serve to make the memory fresh in our thinking. Before the 1960's, we had virtually no major problems in this country with illegal drug use. Then, beginning in the mid 1960's, the notion became current that drug use was not so bad, that drugs were your friend. It became common to hear the refrain that drug use was a personal choice that did no harm to anyone. That drugs could be used responsibly. That making drugs legal would end crime. Hollywood picked up this theme and replayed it in countless movies.…”