BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

This National Substance Use Primary Prevention Month, we renew our pledge to safeguard our children, friends, families, and communities from the devastating reach of illicit drugs by stopping addiction before it ever begins.

Substance abuse remains among the gravest threats confronting our country, poisoning neighborhoods, shattering families, and destroying lives filled with promise.  Our Nation’s youth stand among the most targeted and vulnerable, susceptible at an impressionable age to influences that can draw them into a life-threatening cycle of dependency.  Every young life claimed by this scourge represents a future torn from our national story, a tragedy whose grief echoes throughout households and hometowns.

My Administration has confronted this crisis with unwavering resolve to protect American lives.  I proudly signed the HALT Fentanyl Act into law, permanently classifying fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs, and I designated nearly a dozen cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.  Our southern border now stands as the most secure in American history, stopping the flood of illegal aliens, deadly narcotics, and criminal traffickers before they can infiltrate our communities.  These achievements sever the pipeline that delivers poison to our streets and our schools, forming one of the most powerful safeguards against substance abuse our Nation has ever known.

Stopping drug use before it starts remains the best path to spare families the crippling disease of addiction.  For the first time in American history, my 2026National Drug Control Strategyestablishes a framework that places quality, evidence-based prevention at the center of our national response, uniting schools, communities, and houses of worship in a single mission.  While radical lunatics pass out needles, my Administration is cleaning up our streets and preventing addiction before it starts.  Education delivered through trusted voices — parents, teachers, coaches, pastors, and neighbors — is one of the strongest defenses against substance abuse, reaching young hearts and minds long before the dealers and their poisons ever can.  Student drug abstention rates have already climbed to record-breaking levels under this historic effort, marking a major victory in our mission to protect young Americans.

America’s youth embody the boundless promise of our Nation, a rising generation of patriots called to lead our Republic and carry the timeless values of faith, family, and freedom forward.  We call on every family, every school, and every community to devote themselves to our sons and daughters, nurturing citizens that are strong, minds that are sharp, and spirits that are unshakable.  Together, we will raise up a healthy, confident, and purposeful generation free from substance abuse — securing an even more glorious future where our Nation’s brightest days lie forever ahead.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim August 2026 as National Substance Use Primary Prevention Month.  I call upon all Americans to remain united in the same urgent mission of preventing drug use before it begins so that our Nation’s children can lead lasting and fulfilling lives free from the grip of addiction.  By preventing drug use before it starts, we will protect our Nation’s youth, strengthen American families, fortify communities across our country, and build a drug-free future for all.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifty-first.

DONALD J. TRUMP