National Drug Control Strategy
Three years ago, this Administration issued its first National Drug Control Strategy. That Strategy set ambitious two- and five-year performance-based goals to reduce the rate of drug use by youth and adults in the United States by 10 percent over 2 years and by 25 percent over 5 years. We exceeded our two-year goal for reducing youth use and are on track to reach our five-year goal. At the end of 2004 we reported a 17 percent reduction in the number of young people who had used any category of drug in the last 30 days. Considering that children are most vulnerable to drugs during their high school years, the reductions achieved in that demographic bode well for long-term reductions in the number of adult addicts and hard-core users. The public health condition that is drug abuse and drug dependence almost inevitably has its roots in use by young people, so the change in attitude and usage for 8th, 10th, and 12th graders is a hopeful sign of additional progress in the future.
Among the critical programs leading our efforts to reduce youth drug use and educate young people on the direct impact of illicit drugs is ONDCP's own National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. Exposure to anti-drug advertising has had an impact on improving youth anti-drug attitudes and intentions.
With respect to the over 19 million Americans who still use drugs on a monthly basis and the roughly seven million who meet the clinical criteria for needing treatment, we have proposed $3.2 billion for treatment in FY 06, an increase of about 4.5 percent over FY 05. This includes $150 million for Access to Recovery—a treatment initiative which provides drug treatment to individuals otherwise unable to obtain access to services.
That said, even with effective prevention and treatment programs, reducing drug use is complicated by the availability of addictive substances. A key pillar of the National Drug Control Strategy is therefore to disrupt the supply of drugs by attacking the economic basis of the drug trade. In the Andes, our efforts have focused on destroying the cocaine and heroin manufacturing apparatus. There is clear common ground for our efforts in major drug producing countries because the governments in those nations realize that an entrenched illegal drug industry is a threat not only to the health of their own citizens, but also to national security.
Last Updated: May 12, 2005
