Terry Branstad Quotes

Drug education is the only vaccine we have against the danger of drug abuse of our children.

For all our policing, we understand that law enforcement is not the solution to the problem of drugs in our society.

The drug problem in this country is a consumption issue.

We cannot arrest our way out of the drug problem.

The real drug "kingpin" is the user. It is the casual users who create the profits. But we can't put them all in prison; there isn't any room in the jails.

We have lost the War on Drugs. We cannot arrest our way out of it….It’s a public health problem, not a crime problem.

You can't expect law enforcement to provide the solution to the drug problem.

Although our war on drugs must be fortified with the best laws, enforcement efforts and resources, we would not be successful without your individual commitment to this cause.

The Drug War is probably the worst scourge that has ever been visited upon this country.

If its not worth spending everything it takes, it's not a war [on drugs].

Alcohol and other drug problems are community problems and must be solved by communities in partnership with government.

For 40 years we have been looking for ways to make the existence of the narcotic drug addict just as tough as possible. For 40 years we have asked only what new penalties, what new police tech-niques, might make it easier to catch him and lock him up, whether as an ordinary criminal or, more recently, in connection with some more or less sincere efforts at rehabilitation in confinement. I believe that this entire approach is open to grave question as a practical matter

It is designed to place the entire interstate traffic in the habit forming drugs under the administration of the Treasury Department. It is the opinion of the American Opium Commission that it would bring this whole traffic and the use of these drugs into the light of day and thereby create a public opinion against the use of them that would be more important, perhaps, than the Act itself.

We need to repeal the whole war on drugs. It isn’t working. We have already spent over $400 billion since the early 1970s, and it is wasted money

The war on drugs is a war on our own families …. We have to move from a system that punishes to a system that treats.

The problem of drugs is a national failure. We do not grow cocoa leaves in Albany.

Heroin: Try it once … Hooked for life.

I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol. I've never used marijuana and I don't intend to, but it's just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn't succeeded.

What happened? The Country got sick of it and said, Enough is enough. And all over the Country we saw springing up community organizations determined to do something about this terrible menace of drugs.

More than 26,000 lives may be lost to the effects of drug abuse this year. This tragic impact is felt in communities across this great nation. Sadly many of these deaths occur among our young people.

The stated mission at the time was simply to use the influence of the entertainment industry to do an accurate portrayal of drug and alcohol abuse. We all admit that we're not trying to censor anybody.

While we must ensure that these dangerous new drugs and precursors do not get in the hands of children or others who would use them improperly, we must also be aware that these same drugs have legitimate uses.

The war on drugs is a war against the communities.

We must continue our fight to ensure that Federal, State, and local authorities have the resources and support necessary to combat this growing epidemic. This is a top priority for me and many of my colleagues here in Congress.

You can't legislate sobriety.