Contact: Tom Riley / Rafael Lemaitre
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December 19, 2001
NEW DRUG CZAR TARGETS "UNACCEPTABLY HIGH"
RATES OF DRUG USE AMONG STUDENTS
Sees Monitoring the Future Results as Mixed, Promises "We Can Do Better"
Washington, D.C.—Characterizing today's "Monitoring the Future" survey as a "good news/bad news" report, John P. Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy, praised the efforts of those who appear to have stopped the explosive drug use increases of the mid-1990s, but insisted that sustained levels of use are still too high.
"We know that prevention efforts work," said Walters, noting that while drug use by young people appears to have reached a plateau in recent years, it is still significantly higher than it was in the early 1990s. "We have done better. We can do better. We will do better."
While cigarette smoking by young people continues to decline, drug use remains stubbornly high. "It is time to make the anti-drug effort catch up to the anti-tobacco effort," said Walters.
"It is simply astounding that students today are almost as likely to light up a joint or use another illegal drug as they are to smoke a cigarette," said Walters, pointing to the finding that roughly similar percentages of children smoke (12th grade 30-day "any use" prevalence is 29.5 percent) as use drugs (30-day any illicit use is 25.7 percent).
The survey indicated that most categories of drug use among all grades were basically unchanged since last year. Some of the study's more troublesome findings were:
- More than one-third of seniors reported having used marijuana in the past year;
- Perceived risk of marijuana use among 8th graders is down;
- Perceived risk of LSD use among 8th and 10th graders is down;
- Disapproval of steroid use is down, while use among 12th graders is rising;
- Past month methamphetamine use among 8th graders is rising.
Walters continued, "While we are holding the line on drug use in America, much still remains to be accomplished. Since 1992, drug use has increased and has stabilized. These unacceptably high levels of drug use can be brought down even farther than the levels seen since the early nineties. The myth that anti-drug efforts do not work is refuted by the tireless, everyday efforts of our partners in this struggle: parents, teachers, coaches, and community leaders throughout the nation. They are a tribute to what works and what has kept these levels from skyrocketing."
The Monitoring the Future study is widely recognized as a strong index of youth drug use patterns and attitudes across the nation. The study surveyed a representative sample of more than 44,000 students in 424 schools across the nation about lifetime use, past year use, past month use, daily use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
