 President of the United States. Thank you. Thank you very much. We see that it may start to rain. Well thank you all, members of the Congress here, and members of the Cabinet, and all of you ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to have you all join us here in the Rose Garden as we kick off the White House Conference on a drug-free America. I think we see in this conference and in the efforts of Americans across this land a growing commitment to solving the problem of drug abuse in our society. It's a little bit like a story I like to tell and maybe you've told us some of you pretend I haven't if you've heard it. But the fellow that took up golf and he lined one out there and went down and found his ball was sitting right in front of an ants nest. He cut out an iron, he took a cut at it, didn't hit the ball at all, but lifted the ant nest into the air or the ant hill and about a thousand ants. And he lined up again and took another crack at it and all he hit was more sand and ant nest. When he lined up for the third shot there were two ants down there and one of them said to the other, if we want to survive we better get on the ball. It comes in handy at occasions like this in this story, but America is on the ball. We've come a long way from just a decade ago when it was trendy to talk about recreational drugs that should be decriminalized or simply regulated. We now know what drugs are and we're not shy about saying it. Drugs are an evil, pure and simple, an evil that destroys lives, steals our children's future and undermines the foundations of our free society. We've seen a nationwide revolt against this permissive attitudes of the past. The catchphrase of the 70s, do your own thing, has been replaced in the 80s by just say no. And thanks in great part to the work of a very special lady in my life, there are now, you might be interested to know, something over 12,000 just say no clubs in schools across the United States. We've seen anti-drug demonstrations, marches and vigils held all over America's. People confront the crisis of drug abuse head on and make no mistake, that's exactly what it is, a crisis. I could go into all the statistics, they are, to put it simply, frightening. But most troubling of all is the testimony of our children themselves, not just our college students or our high school students or even our junior high students. As early as the fourth, fifth and sixth grades, students are already identifying drugs as a major problem among their schoolmates. No one to the conscience of our nation has been shocked, and no one to the Americans have decided that the time has come as a nation to just say no, to be clearly and firmly intolerant of drug use. When I say as a nation, I mean just that. Combating this drug epidemic is the responsibility of every American, parents, teachers, school administrators, employers, workers and union officials, public office holders and private organizations. And it's a responsibility that many are taking up with dramatic success. Let me cite just a few trail of blazing examples. Recognizing that simple drug education is not enough, parents and school principals are sending out a no-nonsense message. In Northside High School in Atlanta, for example, Principal Bill Rudolph announced a two-call policy. When students are caught with drugs, the first call is to the police, the second is to the parents. And let me say quite frankly here too that we're looking to our college administrators to become serious about fighting drug use on our nation's campuses. The time for excuses is over. Our colleges can no longer be neutral on the subject of drugs. Nobody has a right to take illegal drugs. Taking illegal drugs isn't experimenting, it's breaking the law. Businesses too are getting serious and getting tough. Commonwealth Edison, to name one, offers treatment to any of its employees who will ask for it. At the same time, they'll fire anyone caught with drugs at work. In the result, absenteeism is down and there are fewer accidents on the job. Not only employers, but unions too have a responsibility to rid the workplace of drugs. At stake is the health, even the lives, of our nation's working men and women. And finally, I'd like to say something about my old business, Movies in the Media. A 1985 report and parade magazine identified 60 major motion pictures, most of which had been made in the previous five years, that treated drug use in a positive, upbeat way, including movies that were honored in the Academy Awards. We know the tremendous influence that movies in the media have over young minds. Though some are aware of their special responsibilities and are taking positive steps, it saddens me that my old industry hasn't gotten its act together and really begun to combat drug abuse. The movie industry should be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Perhaps it's time to give a thought to tightening up on that rating system. It's hard to see why any film promoting drug use should ever be available to minors under any circumstance. Likewise, our music industry has a responsibility to keep those who glorify drug use away from minors. I just can't help but think that some of these people who talk about their constitutional right to free speech are really more concerned with their own profits. No one has a constitutional right to sell pro-drug propaganda to minors, but parents and communities have a right. Indeed, they have the responsibility to protect their children. As I say, we must no longer be shy in demanding the right of our children, the right of all Americans, to live in a drug-free society. And the work of this conference will be a major step forward in initiating and organizing America's anti-drug campaign at every level. The White House Conference will be a continuing opportunity for citizens to share their ideas and experiences in order to vigorously and directly attack drug abuse at all levels. It will review the nation's progress, assess what works and why, and reinvigorate our national strategy to stop the use of illegal drugs. And I am particularly pleased to be naming Lois Height Harrington as chairman of the conference. Lois has had a distinguished career and an extraordinary record working with problems extending from child safety to crime prevention nationally and internationally. And I know that in more ways than one, she certainly doesn't lack in energy. So now, I've talked maybe too much, and it's time for me to get over and sign that statement there. And now, as the little girl said to me, I'll go back and go to work. But that you knew nothing about illegal fund raising within your administration, sir. Why were they contributing money? Why would they do that? Lois specified that the Secretary of State was to encourage our fellow democracies to give aid to the freedom framework. Are you willing to testify before the Select Committee of Act? Do you have to have someone else tell you what you did? Don't you know what you did? I know what I did and I have told all of you.