Angie Craig: “thank you very much. Let me express my appreciation to the Senator from Georgia for bringing about this special order in…”

“thank you very much. Let me express my appreciation to the Senator from Georgia for bringing about this special order in which we could discuss a topic that has just now again burst upon the scene, at least from the standpoint of us having new figures and statistics to be concerned about. But many of us have recognized that it has been going on for some time in a way that this administration and others have just either ignored it or failed to address it. As I came to the floor this afternoon, my friend from Georgia was talking about national statistics on teenage drug abuse versus local statistics and that national averages probably mean local averages if you take a close look at the problem, because I have a feeling that many of us have the habit of saying, well, gee, that really does sound bad and certainly the consequence for younger Americans is tragic but that really is not going on in my backyard. I think in a State like Idaho that remains relatively rural and, at least from the standpoint of metropolitan areas has few, that would be the case with many of my friends and associates in Idaho. Let me start my comments this afternoon by talking about my home State of Idaho because what we are now finding in our checking of statistics with law enforcement is that the national trends are Idaho's trends. I think that is probably true across the Nation.”