Drug abuse has been a major target for government action for some time now, with the rhetoric of the drug war indicating an all-out attack on those who grow, produce, sell, or use drugs. Teenage drug users in particular are a source of concern, and government efforts to convince young people not to use drugs have been considerable. There is evidence that teenage drug use has been reduced from the high it reached a decade or so ago, and though the rate remains relatively high, the trend seems to be downward. The reason for this is in dispute. It may have been brought about by government efforts to reduce teenage drug use, or it may have been caused by some other social forces.
A CNN report in 1999 noted that after years of rising numbers of teenage drug users, teenage use of a variety of illicit drugs declined or leveled off from 1997 to 1999. This study was conducted by the Partnership for a Drug Free America, a private, non profit organization is best known for its national anti drug advertising campaigns. The group said that drug use started going up in 1991, then leveled off in 1998 before showing a marginal decline (CNN). Of course, Partnership for a Drug-Free America has a stake in this battle, so its claim that drug use is declining might be seen as an attempt to prove the efficacy of its own campaigns. However, a government survey released in 1999 showed much the same thing, noting that one in 10 teenagers uses marijuana or other illegal drugs, a number down from 1997, but still nearly double what it was in 1992 ("Public Agenda Online: Teens More Negative About Drug Use, Survey Finds").
Interestingly, a study released in 1996 showed that drug use was still rising. At the time, a number of drug education researchers, including authors of major studies on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program and California's Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Education (DATE) programs, stated that the government must ...