In 2002, more than 26,000 people died in the U.S. as a direct consequence of drug use. That does not include those killed as a consequence of drug-using behavior, like deaths caused by drivers whose perceptions, coordination and/or decision making skills were grossly impaired by drugs.
According to the largest teen drug use survey in the United States, there’s been a 23 percent reduction in the number of young people using drugs since 2001. This includes fewer teens using marijuana and methamphetamines (meth). However, prescription drug abuse among teens is rapidly increasing, as is inhalant abuse. Prescription drug abuse now ranks second to marijuana as the nation's largest illegal drug problem, with nearly 6.4 million people reporting non-medical use.
Facts courtesy of the White House’ 2007 National Drug Control Strategy Plan
“After an increase in LSD use during the 1990s, the reported rates of LSD use by young people have declined by nearly two-thirds since 2001,” reports the Strategy Plan. This is attributed to the dismantling of the world’s leading LSD manufacturing organization in 2000.
“MDMA (Ecstasy) use has made a similar dramatic turnaround since U.S. law enforcement partnered with the Netherlands to disrupt several major MDMA trafficking organizations in recent years.” the Plan says.
Before you heave a huge sigh of relief, the latest drugs of choice are in your medicine cabinet. Prescription drugs are now the second most commonly used illegal drug by teens to get high, after marijuana. A majority of teens who use these products are getting them easily -- and often for free.
"Parents need to know that teens are turning away from street drugs and increasingly abusing prescription drugs to get high. They should also be aware that suppliers of these drugs . . . are more likely close friends or relatives," said John P. Walters, Office of National Drug Control Policy’s director. "Too many young people see popping pills as a painless high."
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