NCJ Number
222985
Date Published
July 2008
Length
77 pages
Annotation
This report presents the 2008 National Drug Control Strategy for the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy, a Presidential initiative for a balanced approach to reducing drug use in America.
Abstract
The 2008 Drug Control Strategy will pursue ambitious goals: a 10 percent reduction in youth drug use in 2 years and a 25 percent reduction in youth drug use over 5 years. This effort will continue to be guided by the three national priorities set by the President in 2002: (1) stopping drug use before it starts; (2) intervening and healing America’s drug users; and (3) disrupting the market for illegal drugs. Results from a drug monitoring study indicate that since 2002, a downturn has been seen in youth drug use after a decade in which rates of drug use had risen and remained at high levels. Chapter 1 of this report addresses the prevention priority, stopping drug use before it starts, and details efforts to expand and amplify the cultural shift away from drug use, especially among young people. Chapter 2 will detail efforts to implement the treatment priority, intervening and healing those who have already succumbed to drug use and addiction. Chapter 3 focuses on United States initiatives to disrupt the market for illicit drugs, the supply reduction effort. In 2008, the Administration will place special emphasis on reducing the diversion of prescription drugs and methamphetamine precursors, reducing Andean cocaine production and Afghan opium poppy cultivation, stemming the flow of illegal drugs across the Southwest border, and combating the domestic production and use of marijuana. Since its inception nearly 6 years ago (2002), the nearly 25 percent decline in youth drug use and the major disruptions in the cocaine and methamphetamine markets have saved lives and strengthened the United States. However, to achieve the goals set forth, a continued partnership is required with all those throughout the United States whose hard work produced the progress over the last 6 years. 25 figures, appendixes A-B