Chairman Souder, Ranking Member Cummings, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: I am pleased to appear before you today in support of the President's Fiscal Year 2007 National Drug Control Budget. Before I proceed, I want to thank the Subcommittee for its strong bipartisan commitment to our shared national goal of reducing drug use in America, especially among our youth.
This month, we have updated the National Drug Control Strategy, detailing the President's plan to continue to reduce drug use in the United States. As part of the Subcommittee's oversight responsibilities, I've been invited to discuss the drug budget, review policies and programs for the coming fiscal year, and discuss my office's role in the development of these proposals. My remarks today will focus on these key points.
When President George W. Bush took office in 2001, drug use had risen to unacceptably high levels. Over the past decade, drug use by young people had nearly doubled, as measured by those who reported having used drugs in the past month: 11 percent of young people had used drugs in the past month in 1991, and 19 percent had done so in 2001. Indeed, in 2001, over half of all 12 th graders in the United States had used an illicit drug at least once in their life before graduation.
Determined to fight this trend, the President set aggressive goals to reduce drug use in the United States, including reducing youth drug use by 10 percent in two years. In 2003, that goal was met and exceeded. According to the latest University of Michigan Monitoring the Future survey of youth drug use that was released in December 2005, overall teen drug use has declined significantly since the President took office. Current use of illicit drugs by
8th, 10th, and 12th graders combined has dropped 19 percent since 2001. This translates into nearly 700,000 fewer young people using illicit drugs.
This year's National Drug Control Strategy seeks to build on the progress that has been made by outlining an integrated plan aimed at achieving the President's goal of a 25 percent reduction in drug use over five years. Each pillar of the Strategy is crucial, and each sustains the others. The three components are:
Stopping Drug Use Before It Starts. This element of the Strategy focuses on the Administration's work to prevent the initiation of drug use. An integral part of this effort is the new “Above the Influence” initiative by the Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. This initiative, which consists of television advertisements and interactive web-based outreach, calls on young people to be true to themselves by remaining “above the influence.”
Healing America's Drug Users. Key initiatives in this area include the President's Access to Recovery program, which expands treatment options, and drug courts, which seek to rehabilitate offenders with substance abuse problems.
Disrupting Drug Markets. This strategic priority emphasizes the Administration's work at home and abroad to disrupt the availability of illicit drugs, through source country efforts, interdiction programs, and investigative operations. We are attacking market vulnerabilities in the illegal drug trade and applying pressure to reduce profits and raise the risks of drug trafficking.
The President's 2007 Budget provides significant resources for reducing illegal drug use. For the information of the Subcommittee, I have included as part of my testimony (attached) a table highlighting drug control funding by agency and bureau, as these data were presented in the Budget of the President, released on February 6. The proposed funding levels support the three key priorities of the Strategy. In total, the 2007 National Drug Control Budget is $12.7 billion, an increase of $109.1 million (+1 percent) over the fiscal year 2006 enacted level of $12.5 billion.
Demand reduction programs supported by the Department of Health and Human Services will maintain support for innovative approaches targeting early intervention and drug treatment. The budgets of HHS, the Department of Education, the Department of Justice, and ONDCP also include funding to support important research, prevention, intervention, and treatment programs. Funding for supply reduction in the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Defense will support operations targeting the economic basis of the drug trade, domestic and international sources of illegal drugs, and trafficking routes to and within the United States. The budget includes significant resources to aid counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan, while following through in Colombia and the Andean region.
