Along with this explosion in drug abuse has come rising household violence. Unfortunately, the public is buying it. Ads and news stories defamed the typical eighth-grader as a smack junkie. But the teen-heroin scare campaign was not backed by any solid data. DAWN surveys showed that teens comprised just 150 of the nation's 38,000 hospital emergency-room treatments for heroin abuse in the first half of 1995.
More disinformation is on the way.
In November, anti-drug chief McCaffrey unveiled his plan to paint Arizona and California as living hells because voters legalized marijuana use for medical purposes. McCaffrey made no pretense of objectivity. Drug-war luminaries can sidestep the mushrooming crises of adult drug abuse and violence that menace young people in their homes, but youths enjoy no such luxury. Teens who use marijuana are 85 times more likely to try cocaine, Califano argues. According to drug-war doctrine, America's entire drug malaise would fade away if no adolescent ever lighted a joint.