H. Res. 569
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
October 7, 2002.
Whereas nearly 20,000 Americans, many of them children,
die of drug-induced deaths, more than 52,000 Americans
die from drug-related causes, and more than 600,000
Americans visit hospital emergency rooms for drug-re-
lated episodes every year;
Whereas the United States has for years been one of the
largest consumers of illegal drugs in the world;
Whereas more than 50 percent of high school seniors have ex-
perimented with an illegal drug at least once prior to
graduation, 2,800,000 Americans are considered to be
‘‘dependent’’ on illegal drugs, and an additional
1,500,000 are in the less severe ‘‘abuser’’ category;
Whereas the societal costs, including lost productivity, of the
illegal drug problem in America have reached a stag-
gering $160,000,000,000 per year;
Whereas the United States is experiencing a dramatic in-
crease in the potency of marijuana and sharply escalating
use of drugs such as methamphetamines, ‘‘club drugs’’
such as (‘‘ecstasy’’) and abuse of legally prescribed drugs
such as Oxycontin;
Whereas the Office of National Drug Control Policy within
the Executive Office of the President was established by
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the National Narcotics Leadership Act of 1988 to coordi-
nate the Nation’s overall counter-narcotics efforts;
Whereas the United States has consistently and firmly sup-
ported a ‘‘balanced’’ approach in the war on drugs, and
the National Drug Control Strategy for 2002 calls for
stopping drug use before it starts through education and
community action, healing America’s drug users by get-
ting treatment resources where they are needed, and dis-
rupting the market by attacking the economic basis of
the drug trade;
Whereas more than 5,000 community anti-drug coalitions
across America have been created to bring together par-
ents, teachers, coaches, mentors, business leaders, faith-
based organizations, and Federal, State, and local gov-
ernments to reduce drug use through effective grassroots
efforts;
Whereas the President of the United States has directed the
Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attor-
ney General to better define and address the so-called
‘‘treatment gap’’ in America through increased and more
effective drug treatment facilities across America and by
convincing nearly 90 percent of drug abusers, particularly
adolescents, that they in fact need help;
Whereas the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign
plays an important role in reducing drug use and social
disapproval of drugs;
Whereas there is a well-established link between the profits
from the illegal drug trade and the financing of many of
the world’s leading terrorist organizations, including the
Taliban, 
al-Qaeda, 
and 
the 
Fuerzas 
Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), and the illegal
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narcotics trade has contributed directly to social and po-
litical instability and loss of innocent life in democratic
nations in the Andean region and around the world;
Whereas the United States Government and the House of
Representatives are working closely with allied nations to
stop the international production and transit of illegal
drugs and promote alternative development and means of
economic growth;
Whereas the capabilities of the United States Coast Guard,
the United States Customs Service, and the United
States Border Patrol are critical to our Nation’s drug
interdiction efforts and must be maintained at no less
than their current levels;
Whereas Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies
are working diligently to enforce laws prohibiting the use
of illegal drugs and to interdict illegal drug traffic to the
United States;
Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States decisively
reaffirmed that the Controlled Substances Act is binding
national law in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buy-
ers’ Collective, 532 U.S. 483 (2001); and
Whereas the use of illegal drugs has been decisively rejected
by the American people as inconsistent with the general
welfare of the United States and individual dignity: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) expresses its support for the President of the
United States and the Office of National Drug Control
Policy in the goal to reduce drug use in America by 10
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percent during the next 2 years and 25 percent during
the next 5 years;
(2) calls on all Americans to join in the effort to
prevent, reduce, and reject illegal drug use in America
by talking to children about the dangers and con-
sequences of illegal drug use and encouraging other re-
sponsible adults to do the same in their families and
communities;
(3) calls on the President, the Secretary of State,
the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Sec-
retary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Health and
Human Services, the Secretary of Transportation, the
Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
and the heads of subsidiary agencies (including the Drug
Enforcement Administration, the United States Customs
Service, the United States Coast Guard, and the Sub-
stance Abuse and Mental Health Administration) to
work together to effectively implement the 2002 Na-
tional Drug Control Strategy and continue to seek ways
to improve the coordination among Federal, State, and
local governments, nonprofit organizations, corporations,
foreign governments, and private citizens to reduce the
demand for international supply of illegal drugs in the
United States;