Mr. President, the interdiction effort of drugs on our borders, particularly between the United States and Mexico, have been reduced by 40 percent. The drug czar's office under this administration until recently was reduced by 80 percent. This administration has presided over the appointment of such judicial figures as Judge Baer who is now a celebrity in his own right for an initial resistance to a drug case brought in a celebrated case in New York.
These isolated incidences though need to be looked at and reviewed again in the context of what has resulted from these decisions. And what has resulted is an alarming epidemic of drug use among American citizens, particularly our youth.
Drug use among teenagers has doubled in the last 36 months. From 1980 to 1992 drug use among teenagers was cut in half. It has now skyrocketed and as I said has virtually doubled. Mr. President, drug use among our youth age 12 to 17 since 1992 has gone from 2.4 to 3.8 million. That is all illicit drugs. It has gone from 1.6 to 2.9 million for marijuana. Drug use among 12th graders in that same 36 months is up 60 percent. For 10th graders it is up 95 percent. For eighth graders, Mr. President--eighth graders--it is up 110 percent.
The emergency room episodes of cocaine-related incidents has gone from 110,000 to 147,000. The role of substance abuse and violence has skyrocketed and is involved in 70 percent-plus of rapes in the United States. Every statistic, Mr. President, we can review is up and we are now presiding over a new drug epidemic in the United States. These statistics are a direct result of major changes in policy.
That is where we need to revert to truth-in-sentencing, new interdiction and being tougher on the judges who sit on the bench to fulfill and honor the laws of our land.
This is a war, Mr. President, that we cannot afford to lose, because to do so is to condemn millions, millions of Americans to devastation.