Over the past four years, we've proven to ourselves and to the country what we can do when we focus on our problems and work together to solve them. New Yorkers now have a new spirit of optimism because we have transformed the city from a place of doubt and fear to a place of strength and self-confidence. We've made major strides reducing crime, but there is still much more to accomplish. Even though we've gone from having a record number of murders a year to the lowest number during our first administration, we must go further. To continue to reduce crime and fully realize our independence as a city, there is nothing more important than driving drugs out of our neighborhoods and schools.
Drugs are the root cause of overall crime in our city.
Drug abuse and addiction tears families apart, and robs children of their potential. With this mind, the City has launched a coordinated, multi-agency effort to curtail drug use through education, prevention and law enforcement. But city government cannot do this job alone. This is a problem created by people, and we must work together to solve it. Each and every one of us can do something to help.