Proclamation 7080

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Every child is blessed with infinite potential-potential for loving, for learning, and for making life better for others. Yet each year thousands of young people destroy this potential and risk their lives by using illegal substances. That is why the first goal of my 1998 National Drug Control Strategy is to educate America's young people on the dangers of substance abuse and to help them resist the temptations of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

Among our greatest allies in this mission are the parents, teachers, students, and police officers participating in Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.), the largest substance abuse prevention and safety promotion program in America. This year, millions of children across the United States will benefit from the D.A.R.E. curriculum. Under the guidance of specially trained veteran police officers, America's children from kindergarten through 12th grade learn how to resist peer pressure and live productive lives free from violence and substance abuse. The D.A.R.E. program is currently being used in almost 75 percent of our Nation's school districts and in more than 44 countries around the world. And because it is so critical that we reach our young people during their most impressionable years, D.A.R.E. has pledged to expand into every middle school in our Nation by the year 2001.

Every American should reinforce D.A.R.E.'s efforts by accepting responsibility to join the fight against drugs and violence. Parents must set a good example, teach their children right from wrong, and educate them about the dangers of substance abuse. Young people themselves must have the courage to reject violence and drugs. And we must all support our Nation's D.A.R.E. officers in their mission to help our children reject illegal drugs. It is only by working together that we can create a brighter future for our children, our communities, and our Nation.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 9, 1998, as National D.A.R.E. Day. I call upon our youth, parents, and educators and all people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-second.

William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:48 a.m., April 10, 1998]