[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 126 (Monday, September 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10651-S10652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             DRUGS AND KIDS

  Mr. GRASSELY. Mr. President, this past month, while we were away for 
the August recess, there was more bad news on the illegal drug front. 
It seems like the administration waits until no one is looking to 
release bad news. The administration waited until late in August and 
waited until a Friday afternoon to release the data. Needless to say, 
the President did not discuss this data on his regular radio show. I 
wonder why that is.
  On Friday, 21 August, the annual Household Survey on Drug Abuse made 
its appearance. I want to share with my colleagues some of the data 
from that study. The information is based on a national survey of 
households in 1997. In this most recent survey, 24,000 people were 
interviewed, with an expanded survey for California and Arizona. For 
those of us concerned about drug use among our young, the numbers are 
disturbing.
  Before I go into more detail on these numbers, let me explain 
something else. In this survey, as in all the others from this 
administration, there is an attempt to hide the pea. Most of my 
colleagues will remember the old carnival shell game. In the game, the 
object was to guess under which of three walnut shells the dealer hid 
the pea. Keep your eye on the shells.
  According to the 1997 survey, 13.9 million Americans were current 
users of illicit drugs. A current user is someone who reported using in 
the past month before the survey. The survey notes that this is not a 
significant increase over 1996 when the number was 13 million. It also 
notes that this number is half of what it was in 1979, when the number 
was at its highest. Now, perhaps in someone's book an increase of 
900,000 people is not statistically significant. But not in my book. It 
is even more significant that most of that increase is occurring among 
12-17 year olds. The numbers are going up.
  In 1992, there were 11 million current users. In 1993, there were 12 
million. There are now almost 14 million. And these numbers may not 
tell the whole truth. Based on preliminary reviews of these household 
numbers by ONDCP, this type of survey is prone to undercounting. If 
that is true, then our problem could be very much more serious than we 
think. In addition, the administration is still trying to hide these 
numbers in happy talk about the reductions in drug use since 1979.
  I am glad that we have not yet returned to the levels of reported use 
we saw in 1979. But let's remember something about how we got to those 
high levels then. They were the result of ignoring or making little of 
the fact that the United States had become a drug-using culture. In the 
early 1960's, there was no drug problem in this country. Less than 2 
percent of the population indicated any regular drug use.
  By 1979, that number had increased to over 10 percent, a fivefold 
increase. Those were the years of arguments that drugs were okay. That 
they did not hurt anyone. That you could use drugs responsibly. Our 
popular culture and many in our cultural elite made much of the 
benefits of using drugs. And who was the target audience for this 
message? It was kids, mostly aged 16-20. This age group began to 
experiment with illegal drugs in ever-increasing numbers. What that 
meant was that the increase in drug use between 1965 and 1979, while 
only 11 or so percent of the overall population, fell 
disproportionately on the young. This age group accounted for less than 
25 percent of the population but bore most of

[[Page S10652]]

the increase in drug use. The consequence was and remains a natural and 
national disaster.
  Most of our addict population today comes from that cohort of users. 
Much of our increases in crime and domestic violence trace back to this 
source.
  That episode of rapidly expanding drug use also created a continuing 
market in this country for illegal drugs that keeps the drugs flowing 
to our streets. It also created a builtin lobbying group that seeks to 
legalize drugs and make them available to yet more kids to this day.
  Despite this, after 1979, when we woke up to the problem, we made 
major strides in reducing use among young people. We were very 
successful. It is interesting that today's legalizers try to cover up 
that fact. They would have us believe that since you cannot make a 
difference, our only rational choice is to make drugs widely available. 
Never mind that this is patently not true. As others have discovered, 
there is a benefit in relying on public amnesia on certain issues and 
on the useful lie. The simple fact is, that in the 1980's and early 
1990's, with Just Say No and the war on drugs, we reduced drug use 
among kids by over 50 percent. We reduced cocaine use, which was the 
drug of choice, by 70 percent.
  These were phenomenal gains made in just a few years. It is that 
success that the present administration is trying to invoke to paper 
over bad news.
  Let me cite some of the current numbers: In 1997, 11.4 percent of 
young people 12-17 reported using an illegal drug in the 30 days before 
the survey. In 1992, that number was 5.3 percent. What that means is 
that we have seen a doubling in the current use of an illegal drug 
among the most at-risk population in just 5 years. But the 
administration takes heart in the fact that the 11.4 percent number is 
still lower than the 14.2 percent number in 1979. The problem is, after 
1979 the numbers started going down in response to public and 
government efforts. Today the trend is against us.
  But there's worse. Between 1996 and 1997, current illegal drug use 
increased significantly among 12- and 13-year-olds, rising from 2.2 to 
3.8 percent. We are now seeing the onset of drug use among younger and 
younger kids. And we know from studies and experience that the earlier 
the onset of use the longer drug use lasts. The earlier the onset the 
more serious are the physical, psychological, and health consequences, 
and the harder it is for treatment to have any effect. And more and 
more young people are trying drugs.
  Based on these numbers, the rate of first use of marijuana among 
young adults was at the highest levels since 1980.
  The estimated number of new heroin users among the young was at the 
highest levels in 30 years.
  The rate of first use of cocaine among youth was at its highest level 
in 30 years.
  These use numbers are bad enough but there's another trend that makes 
them even scarier. One of the things that predicts increases in use is 
attitudes toward the dangers of using drugs. When people think using is 
risky and bad, fewer people use. We see this correlation in the years 
drug use among 12-17-year-olds was declining. But in the last several 
years more and more kids see no danger in using drugs.
  Somewhere between 1992 and today we lost our clear, consistent, 
coherent anti-drug message. As a result, 1998 is beginning to look a 
lot like 1968 in terms of attitudes toward drugs. We are seeing bolder 
and better-funded efforts by legalizers to push drugs in the public 
marketplace. Many in Hollywood and the recording industry are back with 
the them that drugs are your friend. The culture and intellectual elite 
are back to arguing pro-drug themes.
  We are also the beneficiaries of ambivalent messages from the 
administration on drug use. It has favored needle giveaway programs. It 
has been largely inert on the effort to legalize marijuana by calling 
it a medicine. It has downgraded or deemphasized our law enforcement 
and interdiction programs. And it has consistently tried to whitewash 
the bad news with happy talk. When you see numbers like these, repeated 
year after year, you've got a trend. The trend is against us. Where is 
this administration on this issue. What is it going to do? Clearly, 
what it has done so far is not working.
  This is not right. It is not good. We are today well on our way to 
creating a drug-using population of young people to pass on to the next 
generation of policy makers and politicians. We are in the process of 
committing many of the same mistakes we learned to correct just a few 
years ago. I have no doubt we will eventually realize the mistake, but 
how many kids are we going to sacrifice to this new learning before we 
recover our senses?

                          ____________________