Since 1992, overall drug use among teens aged 12 to 17 has risen 70 percent. Most disturbing is the statistic that shows drug use is up among children younger than 12. These children are the abusers and perhaps even traffickers of the future. To realize that young children are addicted to hard drugs is heart rending on all levels. Childhood should be a time of innocence, not the pathway to addiction.
Drug use leads to crime.
Drug-dependent individuals are responsible for a disproportionate percentage of our nation s violent crimes. Drug-abuse related arrests more than doubled for minors between 1992 and 1996. Drug abusers fill our prisons and constitute approximately half of the people on probation and parole in America. As chairman of the crime subcommittee my commitment is to help rid our society of the scourge of drugs and save lives, minds, and bodies. The drug crisis is a weed we need to kill it at its root.