IV

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. 267

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the citizens of

the United States must remain committed to combat the distribution,

sale, and use of illegal drugs by the Nation’s youth.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 9, 1997

Mr. PAPPAS (for himself, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. HASTERT, Mr.

BARRETT of Nebraska, Mrs. LINDA SMITH of Washington, Mr. WATTS

of Oklahoma, Mr. REDMOND, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. HYDE, Mr. RILEY,

Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. SUNUNU, and Mr. HUTCHINSON) submitted the

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education

and the Workforce

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that

the citizens of the United States must remain committed

to combat the distribution, sale, and use of illegal drugs

by the Nation’s youth.

Whereas recently revealed statistics demonstrate that America is not winning the battle to keep young Americans

drug-free;

Whereas the results of these studies show that 29 percent of

high school students state that a student in their school

died from a drug-related or an alcohol-related incident in

the last year;
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Whereas 76 percent of high school students and 46 percent

of middle school students claim drugs are kept, used, or

sold on their school grounds;

Whereas studies show that 66 percent of high school students

claim they can buy drugs within 1 day and 44 percent

claim they can buy drugs within 1 hour or less;

Whereas it is reported that the use of heroin is increasing

and that 90 percent of new heroin users are under 26

years old;

Whereas the use of drugs at a young age dramatically increases the risk of failure to complete high school, increases the likelihood of committing crimes, and reduces

future prospects in education, athletics, and careers;

Whereas it is known that safe, drug-free, and orderly classrooms are key to an effective learning environment;

Whereas parental involvement in education is critical to a

healthy learning environment;

Whereas violent crime rates across the United States have

declined due to strong parental involvement and cooperation among local, State, and Federal law enforcement

agencies;

Whereas the same unified effort and commitment are needed

to fight drugs in our schools, playgrounds, and communities; and

Whereas Congress has the unique ability to provide leadership on this issue by raising awareness of the dangers of

drugs in schools in every community across this great

Nation: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Congress that—

2 (1) all schools should be drug-free;
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1 (2) the distribution, sale, and use of illegal

2 drugs in the Nation’s schools is unacceptable;

3 (3) all Federal, State, and local drug fighting

4 agencies should work together with schools and par5 ents to ensure that a renewed effort is made to fight

6 the distribution, sale, and use of illegal drugs in our

7 schools and to America’s youth;

8 (4) all governmental leaders and parents share

9 a role in raising the awareness of this issue and of10 fering constructive alternatives to illegal drug use;

11 and

12 (5) Congress and the President should set a

13 goal to end the distribution, sale, and use of illegal

14 drugs in the Nation’s schools by the year 2000 and,

15 work with local communities and parents to imple16 ment meaningful policies to achieve this goal.

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