Kay Bailey Hutchison: “Many of us were stunned when the first report came out that showed the enormous leap in drug use and drug abuse in this…”

“Many of us were stunned when the first report came out that showed the enormous leap in drug use and drug abuse in this country in the last 3 years. We knew that it was a problem. But I do not think we realized how big a problem this has become. In fact, I was privileged to be able to see Mrs. Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, who started the ``just say no'' whole effort when she was the First Lady of this country. And I think she was a leader. She was prophetic. I remember that people sort of ridiculed her in a way when she started the ``just say no'' program. They sort of acted like, oh, you know--that really was not cool. Well, it was proven by all of the studies that in fact her willingness to stand up and say we need to go out into our schools and tell our young people to just say no was in fact very effective because it started the thinking of our young people--that they did not have to be with their peers. They did not have to be cool just because their peers would ridicule people who just said no to drugs. In fact, it worked because she started the thinking process in their minds. And the studies showed that between 1985 and 1992 drug use did go down.”