This report from the Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) is a response to Congress for information on recent youth drug use trends and their relation to the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.
ONDCP currently is implementing the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign as a key element in pursuing Goal 1 of the National Drug Control Strategy to "educate and enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs as well as alcohol and tobacco." ONDCP's response focuses on the following topics, each of which is discussed in separate sections of the report: How the Government Tracks Youth Drug Use; Trends in Youth Drug Use; Different Perspectives on the Same Problem; the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and Evaluating Youth Drug Use; and the Media Campaign. While all three national surveys indicate that youth drug use, particularly marijuana use, has risen since the early 1990s, all three also indicate that this trend has leveled off, and even declined, in the past 2 to 3 years. It is exactly during this period of declining youth drug use that the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign was launched, with full implementation in mid-1999. ONDCP is hopeful that the Media Campaign will contribute significantly to the continued decline of youth drug use. Tables, figures, references, and appendixes