NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE REFORM OF MARIJUANA LAWS
1001 CONNECTICUT AVENUE NW
SUITE 1010
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036
TEL 202-483-5500 * FAX 202-483-0057
E-MAIL natlnorml@aol.com
Internet http://www.norml.org/
        NEWS RELEASE ** NEWS RELEASE ** NEWS RELEASE ** NEWS RELEASE
                              December 19, 1996
       Latest High School Senior Survey Data Fuels Anti-Drug Rhetoric
                NORML Responds To Calls To Escalate Drug War
      The statistics indicating rising levels of teen marijuana use among
secondary school students as reported by the Monitoring the Future study
should be an issue of concern for both parents and political leaders alike.
NORML opposes the use of marijuana, or other drugs including alcohol and
tobacco, by adolescents.  NORML remains committed to the notion that
adolescents should grow up drug-free.  However, there is no evidence to
demonstrate that increasing penalties against adult users will address this
problem.  In fact, federal statistics indicate that just the opposite is
true.
      Despite criticism that the Clinton administration has abandoned the
drug war, FBI figures show that nearly six hundred thousand Americans were
arrested on marijuana charges in 1995.  This brings the total number of
arrests under the Clinton administration to 1,450,751 and equates to an
arrest every 54 seconds over the past year!  (More than 83 percent of those
arrests were for simple possession.)
      In spite of this significant increase in the enforcement of marijuana
laws, recent evidence such as the Monitoring the Future study indicates that
the use of marijuana is rising, especially among adolescents.  This fact
confirms that marijuana prohibition does not effectively deter marijuana
use.
      Today's rates of adolescent drug use are better understood when put
in historical perspective.  Data from the Monitoring the Future study
indicate that current rates of adolescent marijuana use, both regular and
lifetime, remain well below what they were some years ago.  According to the
Monitoring the Future Study, lifetime prevalence of marijuana use among
high-school seniors peaked in 1979 at 60 percent, a figure that remains
almost one-third higher than today's 44.9 percent.
      We will probably never know why marijuana use-rates fluctuate over
time.  It is crucial to note, however, that the recent increase has occurred
among the same population of young people who have been exposed to a
decade-long anti-marijuana campaign in the schools and the media.  That
campaign, based on exaggerations of marijuana's alleges harms and a 'Just
say no' ideology has clearly failed.  Programs like DARE lack credibility
and have not influenced adolescents to abstain from drugs.
      The issue of adolescent marijuana use remains a key concern for NORML
and must be dealt with rationally by America.  Recently, we have offered to
work with Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Barry McCaffrey
specifically on this matter.  Clearly, today's figures should serve as a
wake-up call to change our current, often extremist drug education
strategies.  Moreover, while today's figures should warrant concern among
parents and all Americans, they certainly do not justify intensifying the
war against adult marijuana users.
      For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul
Armentano with NORML at (202) 483-5500.  NORML's position papers, Weeding
Through the Hype: The Truth About Adolescent Marijuana Use and NORML's
Principles of Responsible Use are available upon request.
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