Resumo de The Deadly Threat Of Illegal Drugs (speech By Bill Clinton)

October 11, 1997

The Oval office

Good morning. We have worked hard to help
parents pass on their values to their children, and to protect them from bad
influences. Today I want to talk about a powerful new tool in our arsenal to
help parents and to protect our children from the dangers of drugs.

Of all the investments we can make in our
children?s future, none is more important than our fight against the greatest
threat to their safety ? illegal drugs. Under the leadership of our national
Drug Czar, General Barry McCaffery, we?ve fought to keep drugs away from our
borders, off our streets, strategy. Working together with state and local law
enforcement, we?ve made real progress. But unless we teach our children about
the dangers of drugs, our efforts will be in vain.

Make no mistake; without our guidance,
children are more likely to use drugs. Although overall drug use has declined
dramatically, drug use by our young people has doubled.

Among 8th graders, typically 13
and 14 years old, drug use had nearly tripled. We do not understand all the
reasons for these unsettling statistics, but we do know this ? while illegal
drug use by young people has risen, the number of antidrug public service ads
has fallen by more than a third.

In the meantime, movies, music videos, and
magazines have filled the gap ? and our children?s minds ? too often with
warped images of a dream world where drugs are cool. We know that the media can
powerfully affect our children ? for good or ill. That is why we acted to
protect our children from tobacco advertisements, and why we?ve urged the
liquor industry to refrain from running hard liquor ads on television. Now we
must take the next step and give out children the straight facts: Drugs are
wrong, drugs are illegal, and drugs can kill you.

Young people who have not used illegal
drugs by the age of 21 probably never will use them. That?s why we must reach
our children with the right message before it?s too late. I just signed into
law legislation that includes $195 million to launch an unprecedented
high-profile, prime-time media campaign to reach every child in America between
the ages of 9 and 17 at least four times a week. For the very first time, we?ll
be able to use the full power of the media ? from television to the internet to
sports marketing ? to protect our children from drugs. Teaching our children
about the dangers of drugs today can mean saving their lives and our shared
future tomorrow.

I am pleased that the partnership for a
Drug-Free America and the Ad Council will serve as advisors for this vitally
important project. I?d like to say a special word of thanks to the Partnership
for a Drug-Free America and its chairman, Jim Burke, for the outstanding
example they have already set in showing us what good ads can do. And I urge
business leaders all over our country to help us reach our goal by matching the
funds that the Congress has appropriated. Finally, I ask all Americans to join
in this crusade.

Above all, I ask the entertainment industry
to do its part as well. Never glorify drugs; but more important, tell our children
the truth. Show them that drug use is really a death sentence. Use the power of
your voice to teach our children, and to help shape our nation?s future.

Thanks for listening.

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