Last week, I joined officials from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Department of Health and Human Services to announce the results of the largest annual survey on youth drug use in America. NIDA's annual "Monitoring the Future" study, which questions more than 46,000 teens in over 400 public and private schools across America, is a vital source of information about the types of substances young people are using, as well as their attitudes and perceptions regarding substance use -- including alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
This year's data revealed some troubling new trends, including startling new information showing an emerging threat of so-called "synthetic drugs," which have been marketed as "legal" alternatives to marijuana. According to the survey, one in nine high school seniors has used synthetic marijuana marketed as "K2" and "spice" in the past year. That means the use of these drugs now rank as the second most frequently used illegal drug among high school seniors, second only to marijuana.
To address this emerging challenge, the Drug Enforcement Administration recently used their emergency regulatory authority to temporarily ban the sale of the chemicals used to manufacture K2 and spice. I have also convened officials from across the federal government at the White House to share data and coordinate a federal response to the threat of synthetic drugs. We are also working with Congress; and just two weeks ago the House of Representatives passed legislation that would permanently ban the chemicals used to make synthetic drugs, including those marketed as "bath salts."
New data also shows that youth marijuana use is on the rise. In fact, more high school 10th graders smoke marijuana than smoke cigarettes. Making matters worse, young people's perception of harm regarding marijuana use is declining. Unfortunately, the barrage of mixed media messages and legalization campaigns that seek to normalize drug use shape young people's attitudes toward drug use. Let's keep this in mind: Using illegal drugs is not part of everyday life in America, nor is it a rite of passage. Given the wide array of public health research outlining the serious consequences of using marijuana, we must work to ensure teens understand that marijuana use can harm a young person's health and his or her future.
Despite these challenges, this year's survey also contains some very promising trends. Rates of drug use among young people are far lower than they were 30 years ago. And while still far too high (alcohol is still the most widely abused drug among teens), rates of teen cigarette smoking and drinking are at the lowest levels ever measured. Moreover, far more teens disapprove of smoking today than they did 20 years ago.
This progress didn't happen overnight or by accident. Over the past several decades, a concerted effort by parents, the private sector, and public health and safety institutions was mounted to keep young people healthy and protected from harmful substances through a balanced combination of education, treatment and enforcement. Nationwide media campaigns have encouraged young people to make healthy choices by rejecting drug use. Local community coalitions have formed across the nation to address local threats with local solutions. Law enforcement agencies have targeted the supply of substances, making them expensive and less available to teens. Not only have these efforts substantially reduced the number of young people hurt by drugs, but they have also changed the culture surrounding these substances. This is important because when society disapproves of drug use, and its harms are accurately and frequently communicated to young people, fewer will begin using drugs. For example, the rate of smoking goes down when the acceptability of smoking goes down. The percentage of students reporting daily cigarette use is significantly lower, along with the percentage of students who think smoking is acceptable.
Preventing drug use before it ever begins is, after all, the most cost-effective way to address our drug problem. Successful prevention means fewer people will develop substance use disorders, and the consequences of substance use -- including health care, treatment costs and criminal justice system costs -- will all decrease.
The Obama administration has taken a comprehensive approach to the substance abuse problem, and science directs that effort. Research shows time and again that adult influencers are the most powerful force in the lives of young people. We will continue working with local communities to decrease substance use rates across the nation. In the meantime, we hope you will join us in making America healthier and safer.
For more information or help on how to talk to teens about drugs, visit TheAntiDrug.com.
Follow R. Gil Kerlikowske on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ONDCP
Eric E. Sterling: Congress on Speed: Partisan Conflict Led to Many Problems in 1986 Drug Law
Steve Heilig: Cannabis and California's Physicians: A New Perspective
Kimberly Williams: Recovery Month 2011: Getting Rid of Addiction Stigma
NIDA for Teens: The Science Behind Drug Abuse
Teen Drug Abuse - Troubled teens are resorting to drugs.
Trends and Statistics - Drugs of Abuse and Related Topics - NIDA
There is now, a brand new mobile app available on all Android smartphone/tab computer devices, called, "Quit Smoking, Start Now," that uses an integral incorporation of these types of negative social consequences to activate and enhance a smoker's own willpower and resolve to quit smoking. These socially-based appeals are likely to be far more effective than the old, traditional health-based warnings.
Sigh, this is all still the same old propaganda we were fed when I was in high school, 30 years ago. It was proved false then and it is false now. Marijuana has been decriminalized in some states, but the federal government is going after sellers and users with a new zeal, at the behest of the Alcohol distributors and for profit prisons.
The man who had your job when I was a kid had no credibility and Gil, you don't either.
There is no question that ALCOHOL is far and away the most lethal drug consumed by teens.
Here's my question to you. Explain why marijuana is more an issue than alcohol, cigarettes, valium, zanex (I could go on with my list of legal drugs, but I'll assume your medical expertise give you the intelligence to get the gist).
Yes, I'm an advocate for legalization and yes, I'm a regular pot smoker and so what. I've led a responsible life, went to a military academy, have provided for my family, and have been a contributing member to society for overy 40 years (all the while a pot smoker).
My children know this, my friends know this, my family know this.
If you really care about the kids, as you claim, spend more time addressing alcohol, the violence that comes with it, the automobile deaths they cause, yada, yada, yada.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
BTW, if Marijuana were legalized, it could be controlled and regulated. Things like what happened to you could be curbed easier.
If we want a safe environment, we should embrace marijuana as a cultural norm (legalize it), and let embedded cultural controls reinforce responsible habits. This means that parents, not federal bureaucrats, would set rules for their own teens.
M. Reznicek M.D.
www.drrez.com
Living a full life has its risks. Yes, let's protect children, but prohibition laws do nothing but feed the egos of those who think they are smart enought to protect people from themselves.
How does it feel to get paid to lie to the American public about Marijuana. How does it feel to be on the wrong side of history. Your job is disgusting.
Many drugs are indeed processed from plant sources, in fact most of them are... but the difference is that the native plants are just that: native plants. Drugs are processed active ingredients from those plants, not the plants themselves.
As for teen use of marijuana on the rise, and alcohol and tobacco at historic low levels, I am encouraged at the general rise in teenage intelligence clearly demonstrated by current trends. Not only do they realize the inherent health risks of both alcohol and tobacco, substances freely abused with abandon by their supposedly more responsible elders... but they equally realize the ludicrous falsehoods being foisted on them by your office. They actually think your "Reefer Madness" propaganda studies done with federal funding, so obviously intended to frighten old people and little children, are funny...
Good for them! I'm proud of an entire generation...
listening to this government 'hogwash' for as long as I can remember and the story is always the same, a different year but still the same story, first we were winning, then it was a holding action, we're keeping it from getting worse. What could really solve the problem would be for the government to get out of peoples lives and try telling the truth because you're all to shallow to be good liars.
Semper Fi
And we can't forget the roles of tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical companies in this great fraud. Partnership for a Drug-Free America? More like Partnership for Wackenhut, R.J. Reynolds, Anheuser-Busch, Pfizer...
Children use less "Illegal" drugs also because they are prescibed drugs by their doctors or get them from friends, relatives and neighbors that get prescriptions for them.
Facts and a knowledgeable public would put an end to the "Drug War" and seek sensible controls and health based policies.