Drug Use is Down Among Young People
The US approach is bearing fruit. There has been an overall gradual decline in illicit drug use by American adolescents. According to the 2007 report of the national survey in the Monitoring the Future (MTF) series conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research: “The cumulative declines since recent peak levels of drug involvement in the mid-1990s are quite substantial, especially among the youngest students,” said Distinguished Research Scientist Lloyd Johnston, the principal investigator of the MTF study. The proportion of 8th graders reporting use of an illicit drug at least once in the 12 months prior to the survey (called annual prevalence) was 24 percent in 1996 but has fallen to 13 percent by 2007, a drop of nearly half. The decline has been less among 10th graders, from 39 percent to 28 percent between 1997 and 2007, and least among 12th graders, a decline from the recent peak of 42 percent in 1997 to 36 percent.
According to the PRIDE survey in the US in 2001-2002, student drug use reached the lowest level in nine years. This data shows that U.S. efforts to educate students about the risks of drug use has made an impact.
The public rejects legalization. A Gallup poll reported that over 80% of Americans held that legalizing drugs was a bad policy and a large majority feared legalization would lead to increases in addiction, drug overdoses, drug-related crime and drug use by children. Another study showed that 89% of the population is willing to pay higher taxes to support drug controls.
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I support the idea to continue the war is right it has to be helping in some way if so much money is being spent on it good job Evans.
Illegal drug use is down... Prescription drug ABUSE is up among young people
Kids are fed pills when they are little so...
Its great someone else sees the similarities between dealers and pharma cos...both buy political influence, oversight agencys..(cops/fbi fda /cdc/ftc)..and line politicians pockets with profits to keep the machine going(ie keep illegal)...Being originally from the police state of illinois,Ive first hand accounts of how the mob got a foothold by backing prohibition spouting aldermen,mayors etc, much graft and , look at the results, machine guns in the street, rival gang wars, mafia strength and we are still paying the cost in deep rooted corruption...and i dont mean that as a stab at obama ...look at how many of illinois govs have gone to prison...still one there now..not sure I trust anyone who backs prohibition of any sort...ever wonder what legalization will do to the anti depressant market? And here now we have a situation in mexico...chicago type violence again,mexico says its our fault because we create the demand...which in part I agree....can you imagine how many cartels would fold up like a paper cup if we legalized mj?Sure, theres demand for other drugs , but lets face it, people who abuse hard drugs recklessly tend to ,well, die , or at least get incarcerated ...mj people are generally hard working people integrated into productive society , and will be a market to these thugs in mexico for life. If we really want the violence to end...we got to start looking at who is behind this type of prohibition, who's making money at societys expense...follow the trail, and remember, lawmakers are allowed to invest in pharma thru a bill they passed allowing "exceptions"
One thing that should be considered about drug use statistics...a lot has changed in the last few years...most kids are now smart enough not to report drug use knowing full well what the consequences are ...do these statistics take into account that, fearing legal reprisal, no one in their right mind is going to bring the law down on themselves, especially after seeing the legal consequences are far worse than the actual act of using substances
Are you a card carrying member of an organization that receives funding from the Government or any of it's agencies? Does your organization receive large donations from a man named Juan in Juarez?
David, the fact that you consider yourself an expert is proof enough that we need to change our policy.
Is this really the best you can do? You're lazy, or you're tired, or you simply don't have the capcity to come up with a convincing argument anymore. Hang it up buddy! Your facts are wrong and your arguments are old and dusty.
Check the facts here, if you have the energy.
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/druguse/index.html
If drug use is down how come we have the largest prison population in the world? And most of the people incarcerated are imprisoned for drug use or implied trafficing. There is more pot around than ever before. It can be grown at home with higher quality and cheaper. the government spews nothing but lies and half truth. this guy is protecting his job so lying is a form of job security!@
I'm sorry, but after reading over your view, I felt the need to take the time to sign up and post a comment back. Now!, since i took 5 minutes out of my day maybe you can take thirty seconds to read and think.
To say that ANY drug policy in the US has worked while we still have the HIGHEST drug usage percentages in the WORLD is ludicrous.
And to say a "tough" war on drugs is in some way "beneficial" to kids is just as crazy, a "tough" war on drugs means little timmy with a J on the corner just trying to relax, gets busted, and now he cant find a decent paying job for the rest of his life.
So why continue this "tough" war on drugs, when we can switch to more forgiving policies (which have worked better everywhere else), and try to help people with their problems, not throw them in a giant bin with thousands of others with worse issues and a greater knowledge of the illegal trades.
Besides I want my taxes to go to something beneficial, another few billion in education couldnt hurt.