Poll Shows U.S. in ‘Wartime Mood’ on Drugs, Gallup Says
Three-fourths of all teen-agers and nearly half of all adults are ready to volunteer time to drug prevention programs, education and treatment, and nine in 10 Americans want tougher anti-drug laws, a Gallup poll showed today.
“The American people are in a wartime mood,” George Gallup said at a White House news conference.
William Bennett, the national drug control director who will make the Bush Administration’s policy public early next month, said, “The American people have given a very clear sense of direction to us” in the poll.
“The public is ready to take action on all fronts,” Bennett said.
The survey showed that drug abuse was listed by 32% of teen-agers as the most important problem facing the country, ahead of fear of war, 14%; economic issues, 13%; environment and pollution, 7%; AIDS, 5%; crime, 3%, and abortion, 2%.
Bennett said he does not want to disclose the Administration’s policy prematurely but said, “If there is a subtitle to our strategy, it is everybody plays. Everybody must do something.”
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