An even greater crisis awaits us if we fail to reach millions of today's youth experimenting with drugs or reaching a vulnerable age with effective substance abuse prevention services. Effective model prevention programs have been identified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Institute on Drug Abuse within the NIH, and other agencies. The Pelosi amendment would have provided treatment for an additional 303,000 addicted individuals and proven prevention services to an estimated 2.4 million youth. Most of these funds would be dedicated to Targeted Capacity Expansion grants to boost local treatment capacity. We are facing a true public health crisis in this country.
Illicit drugs make their way into our communities, our schools, our places of work.
Regular abuse of illicit drugs is rising among certain minority populations. These figures do not even capture the lost potential, wrecked families and other human costs resulting from substance abuse. While cocaine is a prevalent drug among adults, and deserving of special eradication efforts, it is worth noting that it is used far less frequently by our nation's youth than other drugs. Even if were to succeed at reducing the foreign supply of drugs, drugs with rising popularity are often produced here at home. Cocaine consumption peaked in 1993 and has leveled off, while abuse of other drugs such as methamphetamines and marijuana has been rising.