Drug Czar Brown Calls PRIDE Survey Results "Alarming", Shows "Drugs Including Marijuana Fuel Culture of Violence".


Executive Office of the President
Office of National Drug Control Policy

For Immediate Release:  Thursday, November 2, 1995


Dr. Lee Brown, White House National Drug Policy Director, issued
the following statement on the new PRIDE Survey of junior and
senior high school drug use:

"The alarming results of the PRIDE survey sharply demonstrate that
illegal drugs including marijuana fuel a culture of violence which
is destroying the lives of thousands of our young people.  The
PRIDE survey strongly underlines the desperate need for Congress to
reverse its dangerous and irresponsible decision to slash funds for
programs designed to keep kids off drugs.  The clear linkage
between kids' using drugs and using guns should shock the
Congressional leadership out of its decision to cut funding for
drug abuse prevention and treatment.

If Congress looks at the brutal realities represented by the PRIDE
survey results, the Senate and the House will join the President's
campaign to save our nation's children by fully funding effective
drug education and treatment programs.  This survey is a wakeup
call to Congress that should shake the budget cutters out of their
virtual denial that drugs are a problem.  Their actions speak
louder than their words, and their actions indicate that they want
to walk away from the American drugs crisis.

Those of you who know me and my record also know that I am not
given to overly dramatic rhetoric.  So, please, take very seriously
these words:  If the Congress fails to reverse course, there will
be MORE kids using drugs, MORE emergency room admissions, MORE kids
entering a life of crime, MORE families in pain, and yes, MORE
deaths.  The Congressional drug budget slashing should be
un-thinkable--especially from people who claim to care about
American family values.

The PRIDE survey teaches kids and parents something basic about the
popular notion that marijuana is not a dangerous drug.  That is
simply a lie.  Look at the numbers:  66 percent of kids who carried
guns to school also reported they are users of marijuana, compared
to 17 percent who did not bring a gun onto school property.

The PRIDE survey results compel me to issue this warning to the
producers of films, videos and music that present marijuana and
other drugs as cool and attractive: If you continue on your current
course, you will bear the terrible burden of knowingly contributing
to the culture of drugs and violence.  That means, no matter how
much you would like to avoid it, you, too, will be responsible for
additional pain, suffering and death.  You will be part of the
problem instead of contributing to the solution.

I offer this challenge to the Congressional leadership and the
media image purveyors:  If you don't believe me, if you don't
believe your actions have catastrophic consequences, spend some
time with me in the streets.  If that doesn't shame you, nothing
will.

I speak with passion because I am a father and a grandfather even
before I am a public servant.  Every child lost hurts my heart just
as it diminishes our nation.  On behalf of the President, I want to
thank the men and women who conducted the PRIDE survey for a job
well done."