Frank Lautenberg: “We think that when a campaign is directed toward young people and it says ``Say no to drugs,'' the omission of alcohol…”

“We think that when a campaign is directed toward young people and it says ``Say no to drugs,'' the omission of alcohol sends the wrong message. That's like saying, ``Drugs are bad for you, but alcohol is not so bad.'' So when we look at the statistics, and we see alcohol kills six times as many young people ages 12 to 20 than all of the illegal drugs combined, that tells us that the media campaign cannot deliver a thorough message unless it includes alcohol. Without including alcohol, the media campaign is a mere wink at underage drinking. The drug czar is going to have $1 billion, we hope, over the next 5 years to deliver a message. Mr. President, $1 billion is a lot of money. So if the media campaign says ``Say no to drugs,'' and it also says ``Say no to alcohol,'' I see nothing wrong with that. And if there are ads portraying the horrific things that illegal drugs can do to kids, there should be ads portraying the same horrific things that alcohol can do to kids.”