Orrin Hatch: “the Senate recently confirmed Gen. Barry McCaffrey to be the Nation's new drug czar. He had to leave the military…”

“the Senate recently confirmed Gen. Barry McCaffrey to be the Nation's new drug czar. He had to leave the military service to take this position. He has a tough job. I have high hopes for him and I compliment him for accepting this job and accepting this challenge, because he could have gone even higher in the military than he was, and it was pretty difficult to go much higher than Barry McCaffrey already was. He was willing to do this. His father told him he should do this in the best interests of our Nation and our young people. I have to say, during the last few years I have been critical of President Clinton's lack of leadership on the drug issue. On September 29, 1993, I called upon editorialists and columnists to draw attention to the drug issue and the need for Presidential leadership. At an October 20, 1993, Judiciary Committee hearing, I said, "Thus far, this administration has been sending a terrible signal to our country: drug control is no longer a national priority." I quoted A.M. Rosenthal's observation that President Clinton's interest in fighting drugs can be summed up as, "No leadership. No role. No alerting. No policy." I cited a University of Michigan study that even then showed that the decline in drug use among our Nation's young people, which began during the Reagan-Bush years, had virtually halted and marijuana and LSD use were even then on the rise, and that was back in 1993.”