TEXT: ‘No One Among Us Is Out of Harm’s Way’

Here is a partial text of President Bush’s speech announcing a $7.9-billion war on drugs:

This is the first time since taking the oath of office that I felt an issue was so important, so threatening, that it warranted talking directly with you, the American people. All of us agree that the gravest domestic threat facing our nation today is drugs.

Drugs have strained our faith in our system of justice. Our courts, our prisons, our legal system are stretched to the breaking point. The social costs of drugs are mounting. In short, drugs are sapping our strength as a nation.

Most Serious Problem

Turn on the evening news, or pick up the morning paper and you’ll see what some Americans know just by stepping out their front door: Our most serious problem today is cocaine, and in particular, crack.

Who’s responsible? Let me tell you straight out.

Everyone who uses drugs.

Everyone who sells drugs.

And everyone who looks the other way.

Tonight, I will tell you how many Americans are using illegal drugs. I will present to you our national strategy to deal with every aspect of this threat. And I will ask you to get involved in what promises to be a very difficult fight.

This is crack cocaine seized a few days ago by Drug Enforcement Administration agents in a park just across the street from the White House. It could easily have been heroin or PCP. It’s as innocent looking as candy, but it is turning our cities into battle zones, and it is murdering our children.

Let there be no mistake: This stuff is poison. Some used to call drugs harmless recreation. They’re not. Drugs are a real and terribly dangerous threat to our neighborhoods, our friends and our families.

No one among us is out of harm’s way. When 4-year-olds play in playgrounds strewn with discarded hypodermic needles and crack vials--it breaks my heart. When cocaine--one of the most deadly and addictive illegal drugs--is available to school kids--school kids--it’s an outrage. And when hundreds of thousands of babies are born each year to mothers who use drugs--premature babies born desperately sick--then even the most defenseless among us are at risk.

These are the tragedies behind the statistics. But the numbers also have quite a story to tell. Let me share with you the results of the recently completed Household Survey of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It compares recent drug use to three years ago. It tells us some good news and, some very bad news.

First, the good.

As you can see in the chart, in 1985, the government estimated that 23 million Americans were using drugs on a “current” basis--that is, at least once in the preceding month. Last year, that number fell by more than a third. That means almost 9 million fewer Americans are casual drug users. Good news.

Because we changed our national attitude toward drugs, casual drug use has declined. We have many to thank: our brave law-enforcement officers, religious leaders, teachers, community activists, and leaders of business and labor.

We should also thank the media for their exhaustive news and editorial coverage and, for the air time and space for anti-drug messages.

Finally, I want to thank President and Mrs. Reagan for their leadership. All of these good people told the truth--that drug use is wrong and dangerous.

Also Bad News

But as much comfort as we can draw from these dramatic reductions, there is also bad news--very bad news.

Roughly 8 million people have used cocaine in the past year, almost 1 million of them used it frequently once a week or more.

What this means is that, in spite of the fact that over-all cocaine use is down, frequent use has almost doubled in the last few years. And that’s why habitual cocaine users--especially crack users--are the most pressing, immediate drug problem.

What, then, is our plan?

To begin with, I trust the lesson of experience: No single policy will cut it, no matter how glamorous or magical it may sound. To win that war against addictive drugs like crack will take more than just a federal strategy. It will take a national strategy, one that reaches into every school, every workplace, involving every family.

Earlier today, I sent this document, our first such national strategy to the Congress. It was developed with the hard work of our nation’s first drug policy director, Bill Bennett.

In preparing this plan, we talked with state, local and community leaders, law enforcement officials and experts in education, drug prevention and rehabilitation. We talked with parents and kids. We took a long hard look at all that the federal government has done about drugs in the past. What’s worked, and--let’s be honest--what hasn’t.

Too often, people in government acted as if their part of the problem--whether fighting drug production, or drug smuggling, or drug demand--was the only problem. But turf battles won’t win this war. Teamwork will.

Tonight, I’m announcing a strategy that reflects the coordinated, cooperative commitment of all federal agencies. In short, this plan is as comprehensive as the problem. With this strategy, we now finally have a plan that coordinates our resources, our programs and the people who run them.

Our weapons in this strategy are: the law and criminal justice system, our foreign policy, our treatment systems, and our schools and drug prevention programs.

So the basic weapons we need are the ones we already have. What has been lacking is a strategy to effectively use them.

Let me address four of the major elements of our strategy.

First, we are determined to enforce the law, to make our streets and neighborhoods safe. So to start, I’m proposing that we more than double federal assistance to state and local law enforcement. Americans have a right to safety in and around their homes.

And we won’t have safe neighborhoods unless we are tough on drug criminals--much tougher then we are now. Sometimes that means tougher penalties. But more often it just means punishment that is swift and certain.

Rules Have Changed

We’ve all heard stories about drug dealers who are caught and arrested--again and again--but never punished. Well, here the rules have changed: If you sell drugs, you will be caught. And when you are caught, you will be prosecuted. And once you’re convicted, you will do time.

Caught. Prosecuted. Punished.