A federal report by the U.S. Center on Substance Abuse Prevention stated that "alternative programming appears to be most effective among those youth at greatest risk for substance abuse and related problems." According to the report, alternatives are defined as, "those that provide targeted populations with activities that are free of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs."

Source: Maria Carmona and Kathryn Stewart, A Review of Alternative Activities and Alternatives Programs in Youth-Oriented Prevention (National Center for the Advancement of Prevention, under contract for the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1996), p. 21, 3.

Despite the fact that federal spending on the drug war increased from $1.65 billion in 1982 to $17.7 billion in 1999, more than half of the students in the United States in 1999 tried an illegal drug before they graduated from high school. Additionally, 65% have tried cigarettes by 12th grade and 35% are current smokers, and 62% of twelfth graders and 25% of 8th graders in 1999 report having been drunk at least once.

Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy, National Drug Control Strategy: Budget Summary (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1992), pp. 212-214; Office of National Drug Control Policy, National Drug Control Strategy: 2000 Annual Report (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 2000), p. 97, figure 4-2; Johnston, L., Bachman, J. & O'Malley, P., Monitoring the Future: National Results on Adolescent Drug Use Overview of Key Findings 1999, (Washington, DC: NIDA, 2000), pp. 3-6.

Federal research shows that the ONDCP's anti-drug media campaign is ineffective. According to NIDA's 1998 Household Survey, " exposure to prevention messages outside school, such as through the media, was fairly widespread but appeared to be unrelated to illicit drug use or being drunk." NIDA goes on to report, "Nearly 80% of youths who used illicit drugs and more than three-fourths of youths who were drunk on 51 or more days in the past year reported being exposed to prevention messages outside school."

Source: Office of Applied Studies, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1998 (Rockville, MD: SAMHSA, US Department of Health and Human Services, March 2000), p. 174.

According to a report prepared for NIDA by Westat and the Annenberg School for Communication in 2001, "In summary, thus far there is relatively little evidence for effects of the Campaign on youth. While there are scattered positive results, they are balanced by scattered negative results. There are some anomalies in the evidence presented that are suggestive in one way or another. However, once one steps back and examines the entire evidence base, it is hard to be confident that any of these results are reliable."

Source: Horik, Robert, et al., "Evaluation of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign: Third Semi-Annual Report of Findings," analysis prepared for NIDA by Westat and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania (Rockville, MD: NIDA, October 2001) p. 5-21.

According to a report prepared for NIDA by Westat and the Annenberg School for Communication in 2001, "Neither the overall results nor the subgroup analyses show consistent evidence supportive of a Campaign effect."

Source: Horik, Robert, et al., "Evaluation of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign: Third Semi-Annual Report of Findings," analysis prepared for NIDA by Westat and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania (Rockville, MD: NIDA, October 2001) p. 5-20.

Regarding exposure to ONDCP’s National Anti-Drug Media Campaign and marijuana use by 12-18 year olds, a report prepared for NIDA by Westat and the Annenberg School of Communication determined: "The conclusion then is that there is no supportive evidence that campaign exposure, however measured, is associated either positively or negatively with any of the four cognitive outcomes for the full sample of 12- to 18-year-olds." (The four cognitive outcomes are: Intentions to Use Marijuana; Attitude/Belief; Social Norms; and Self-Efficacy to Refuse Marijuana.)

Source: Horik, Robert, et al., "Evaluation of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign: Third Semi-Annual Report of Findings," analysis prepared for NIDA by Westat and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania (Rockville, MD: NIDA, October 2001) p. 5-15.

Regarding exposure to ONDCP’s National Anti-Drug Media Campaign and marijuana use by 12-18 year olds, a report prepared for NIDA by Westat and the Annenberg School of Communication determined: "Thus far there is little evidence of direct Campaign effects on youth. There is no statistically significant change in marijuana use or in beliefs and attitudes about marijuana use, and no tendency for those reporting more exposure to Campaign messages to hold more desirable beliefs."

Source: Horik, Robert, et al., "Evaluation of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign: Third Semi-Annual Report of Findings," analysis prepared for NIDA by Westat and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania (Rockville, MD: NIDA, October 2001) p. ix.

"Marijuana appears to be available to almost all high school seniors; some 89% reported that they think it would be 'very easy' or 'fairly easy' for them to get it -- almost twice the number who reported ever having used it (49%)."

Source: Johnston, Lloyd D., PhD, Patrick M. O'Malley, PhD, and Jerald G. Bachman, PhD, "Monitoring The Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2000, Volume 1: Secondary School Students" (Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, August 2001), p. 329.

Every year from 1975 to 1999, at least 82% of high school seniors surveyed have said they find marijuana "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain. In 2000, 88.5% of high school seniors said it was fairly or very easy to obtain.

Source: Johnston, Lloyd D., PhD, Patrick M. O'Malley, PhD, and Jerald G. Bachman, PhD, "Monitoring The Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2000, Volume 1: Secondary School Students" (Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, August 2001), p. 341, Table 9-6.

"What is most noteworthy, however, is how little change there has been over the years in perceived availability as measured by how many seniors say that marijuana is 'fairly' or 'very' easy to get. By this measure, marijuana has been almost universally available to American high school seniors (from 83% to 90%) over at least the past 25 years."

Source: Johnston, Lloyd D., PhD, Patrick M. O'Malley, PhD, and Jerald G. Bachman, PhD, "Monitoring The Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2000, Volume 1: Secondary School Students" (Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, August 2001), p. 330.

"Most high school seniors felt that they would be little affected personally by the legalization of either the sale or the use of marijuana. More than half (60%) of the respondents said that they would not use the drug even if it were legal to buy and use it, and another 20% indicated they would use it about as often as they do now or less often. Only 5% said they would use it more often than they do at present and only another 7% thought they would try it. Seven percent said they did not know how their behavior would be affected if marijuana were legalized. A study of the effects of decriminalization by several states during the late 1970s found no evidence of any impact on the use of marijuana among young people, nor on attitudes and beliefs concerning its use."

Source: Johnston, Lloyd D., PhD, Patrick M. O'Malley, PhD, and Jerald G. Bachman, PhD, "Monitoring The Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2000, Volume 1: Secondary School Students" (Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, August 2001), p. 289.

The Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reports that "In 1999, 47 percent of teens said cigarettes were the easiest substance for them to buy (compared with marijuana or beer); in 2000, only 33 percent say cigarettes are easiest. In 1999, 27 percent said marijuana was easiest compared with 33 percent in 2000. This decline in the perceived ease of obtaining tobacco may reflect a new 'get tough' attitude toward underage tobacco sales and consumption."

Source: QEV Analytics, "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse VI: Teens" (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, February 2001)p. 1.

The Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reported that, in response to the question "Which is easiest for someone your age to buy: cigarettes, beer or marijuana?" 33% responded cigarettes, 10% said beer, 33% said marijuana, 7% said all three were the same difficulty, and 17% said don't know or had no response.

Source: QEV Analytics, "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse VI: Teens" (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, February 2001), p. 29.

"The US has higher rates of illicit drug use by young people than European nations, as noted by the Monitoring The Future survey: "The MTF study found that in 1999 41% of tenth grade students in the United States had used marijuana or cannabis at least once in their lifetimes. All the participating European countries had a considerably lower rate of lifetime use, averaging 17%. This proportion varied among European countries from 1% in Romania to a high of 35% in France, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic. The US also had one of the lowest proportions of students seeing marijuana use as carrying a risk of harm to the user, and one of the lowest proportions saying that they personally disapprove of marijuana use (pp. 345 and 348).... The US also had the highest rates of use of most of the other illicit drugs studied, as well as marijuana, with the important exception of heroin. These included amphetamines, hallucinogens, cocaine, crack, and ecstasy."

Source: Johnston, Lloyd D., PhD, Patrick M. O'Malley, PhD, and Jerald G. Bachman, PhD, "Monitoring The Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2000, Volume 1: Secondary School Students" (Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, August 2001), p. 363.

"Our results are consistent in documenting the absence of beneficial effects associated with the DARE program. This was true whether the outcome consisted of actual drug use or merely attitudes toward drug use. In addition, we examined processes that are the focus of intervention and purportedly mediate the impact of DARE (e.g., self-esteem and peer resistance), and these also failed to differentiate DARE participants from nonparticipants. Thus, consistent with the earlier Clayton et al. (1996) study, there appear to be no reliable short-term, long-term, early adolescent, or young adult positive outcomes associated with receiving the DARE intervention."

Source: Lynam, Donald R., Milich, Richard, et al., "Project DARE: No Effects at 10-Year Follow-Up", Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, August 1999), Vol. 67, No. 4, 590-593.

A federally funded Research Triangle Institute study of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) found that "DARE's core curriculum effect on drug use relative to whatever drug education (if any) was offered in the control schools is slight and, except for tobacco use, is not statistically significant."

Source: Ennett, S.T., et al., "How Effective Is Drug Abuse Resistance Education? A Meta-Analysis of Project DARE Outcome Evaluations," American Journal of Public Health, 84: 1394-1401 (1994).

Dr. Dennis Rosenbaum, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, recently completed a six-year study of 1,798 students and found that "DARE had no long-term effects on a wide range of drug use measures"; DARE does not "prevent drug use at the stage in adolescent development when drugs become available and are widely used, namely during the high school years"; and that DARE may actually be counter productive. According to the study, "there is some evidence of a boomerang effect among suburban kids. That is, suburban students who were DARE graduates scored higher than suburban students in the Control group on all four major drug use measures."

Source: Rosenbaum, Dennis, Assessing the Effects of School-based Drug Education: A Six Year Multilevel Analysis of Project DARE, Abstract (April 6, 1998).

A federal report by the U.S. Center on Substance Abuse Prevention noted that "adolescence is a period in which youth reject conventionality and traditional authority figures in an effort to establish their own independence. For a significant number of adolescents, this rejection consists of engaging in a number of 'risky' behaviors, including drug and alcohol use. Within the past few years, researchers and practitioners have begun to focus on this tendency, suggesting that drug use may be a 'default' activity engaged in when youth have few or no opportunities to assert their independence in a constructive manner."

Source: Maria Carmona and Kathryn Stewart, A Review of Alternative Activities and Alternatives Programs in Youth-Oriented Prevention (National Center for the Advancement of Prevention, under contract for the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1996), p. 5.

The World Health Organization noted that, while some studies indicate that adolescents who use marijuana might be more likely to drop out of high school and experience job instability in young adulthood, "the apparent strength of these cross-sectional studies ... has been exaggerated because those adolescents who are most likely to use cannabis have lower academic aspirations and poorer high school performance prior to using cannabis, than their peers who do not."

Source: Hall, W., Room, R., & Bondy, S., WHO Project on Health Implications of Cannabis Use: A Comparative Appraisal of the Health and Psychological Consequences of Alcohol, Cannabis, Nicotine and Opiate Use August 28, 1995 (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 1998).

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that in general, the heavier the alcohol use, the more likely an adolescent will be involved with criminal behaviors.

Source: Greenblatt, Janet C., US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Patterns of Alcohol Use Among Adolescents and Associations with Emotional and Behavioral Problems (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, March 2000), p. 6.

Even after controlling for other factors (e.g., age, gender, family structure, income, past month marijuana use, etc.), there is "a relationship between past month alcohol use and emotional and behavioral problems. The relationships were particularly strong among heavy and binge alcohol use and delinquent, aggressive, and criminal behaviors."

Source: Greenblatt, Janet C., US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Patterns of Alcohol Use Among Adolescents and Associations with Emotional and Behavioral Problems (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, March 2000), p. 9.

"Of the Nation's 72.3 million minor children in 1999, 2.1% had a parent in State or Federal prison. Black children (7.0%) were nearly 9 times more likely to have a parent in prison than white children (0.8%). Hispanic children (2.6%) were 3 times as likely as white children to have an inmate parent."

Source: Mumola, Christopher J., US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, Incarcerated Parents and Their Children (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, August 2000), p. 2.

"A majority of parents in both State (62%) and Federal (84%) prison were held more than 100 miles from their last place of residence."

Source: Mumola, Christopher J., US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, Incarcerated Parents and Their Children (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, August 2000), p. 5.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that 2.8% of all children under age 18 have at least one parent in a local jail or a State or Federal prison - a total of 1,941,796 kids. One in 40 have an incarcerated father, and 1 in 359 have an incarcerated mother.

Source: Greenfield, Lawrence A., and Snell, Tracy L., US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Women Offenders (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, December 1999), p. 8, Table 18.

"The number of offenders under age 18 admitted to prison for drug offenses increased twelvefold (from 70 to 840) between 1985 to 1997. By 1997 drug offenders made up 11% of admissions among persons under 18 compared to 2% in 1985."

Source: Strom, Kevin J., US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Profile of State Prisoners Under Age 18, 1985-1997 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, February 2000), p. 4.

Fifty-eight percent of offenders under 18 years of age admitted to prison in 1997 were black and 25% were white. In 1990, African-American youth comprised 61% of admissions and whites 21%. Still, the shift from 1985 to 1990 was more dramatic: During this period the percentage of African-American young people put in prison increased from 53% to 62%, and the percentage of whites fell from 32% to 21%.

Source: Strom, Kevin J., US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Profile of State Prisoners Under Age 18, 1985-1997 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, February 2000), p. 6.