Bill Clinton on Drugs

President of the U.S., 1993-2001; Former Democratic Governor (AR)

Work with Mexico to address drug smuggling problems

Some Mexican border police were offered five times their annual salary to look the other way on just one drug shipment. One honest prosecutor in northern Mexico had been shot more than one hundred times right in front of his house. These were the tough problems, but I thought the implementation of our agreements [between the US and Mexico] would help. Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.756 Jun 21, 2004

$195M National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign

The President appointed Barry McCaffrey, a four-star general, to lead the Clinton-Gore Administration’s anti-drug strategy as the nation’s Drug Czar. In 1997, President Clinton and Director McCaffrey launched the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, the largest targeted effort ever to teach youth about the dangers of drugs. The Campaign uses the full power of the modern media to encourage young people to reject drug use, and helps parents, teachers and other responsible adults talk to kids about drugs and get more involved in the lives of young people. Illicit drug use among young people age 12-17 declined from 1997 to 1998, and the average age of first-time use went up. Overall drug use is down since its peak in the 1970’s, drug-related murders have fallen by 48 percent since 1992, and youth drug use is leveling off or declining. Source: WhiteHouse.gov web site Aug 1, 2000

Drug strategy to reduce both supply and demand

We have a new National Drug Control Strategy that:

targets young people for education and prevention

pulls drug users off the streets and puts them in treatment

aims to reduce the cost of drug abuse to our health and welfare systems

and seeks to block drugs at the border and cut off drugs at their source. Source: Between Hope and History, by Bill Clinton, p. 81-82 Jan 1, 1996

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Page last updated: 3/31/2008