U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

ONDCP Director's Message, August 13, 1996

NCJ Number
162784
Date Published
1996
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video contains an address by the White House Drug Policy Director on the current status of America's antidrug efforts and recommendations for future efforts.
Abstract
Use of illegal drugs by Americans has declined by almost half in the last 15 years. However, the country still faces two major challenges: first is the dramatic rise in drug use by young people and the increasingly younger age at which they are being exposed to drugs; and second is the fact that 3.6 million Americans are chronically addicted to illegal drugs. These addicts are a financial drain on national and local economies, and represent one-third of the Nation's AIDS cases. The President's 1996 National Drug Control Strategy demands a systems approach that will motivate youth to refuse drugs, alcohol and tobacco; reduce crime and violence associated with drugs; reduce costs associated with drugs (e.g., by establishing drug courts); protect borders against drug infiltration; and reduce domestic and foreign drug sources by developing coalitions of democracies to fight the drug problem on a global scale. The centerpiece of this program is a $15 billion program to publicize findings that treatment works, to gain publicity for programs like NEW PRIDE, DARE and TASC.