NCJ Number
177143
Date Published
1999
Length
52 pages
Annotation
This booklet describes drug use patterns over the past two decades; the demand reduction goals, objectives, and target measurement of the National Drug Control Strategy; and the major Federal programs and initiatives now under way to reduce the demand for illicit drugs.
Abstract
The discussion notes that approximately 6.4 percent of the population ages 12 or older reports use of an illicit drug in the past month. This proportion represents a decline of more than 50 percent since 1979, when 14.1 percent of the population reported current drug use. The goal of the National Drug Control Strategy is to reduce drug use to 3.1 percent of the population by the year 2007. Demand-reduction efforts include a national youth anti-drug media campaign; the mobilization of community anti-drug coalitions; school-based prevention programs; a parenting and mentoring initiative; and efforts to reduce youth use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. Drug treatment initiatives include funding to close the gap in public system treatment, efforts to ensure parity for drug treatment in the private sector, and the expansion of inmate drug treatment. Other initiatives focus on demand reduction in the workforce; efforts to address the emerging threats of heroin, methamphetamine, and inhalants; and improvement of international cooperation in demand reduction. Figures and 18 references