As Douglas' character prepares to become the nation's new drug czar, he faces a brutal reality. She and her friends, one of whom almost dies from an overdose, generally trash society, themselves, their parents, their future and one another as they do drugs. Traffic screenwriter Stephen Gaghan says the portrayal is absolutely accurate. Now 35, he says he saw such behavior often as a teen. Parents can easily be confused about the real extent of teen drug use.
Statistics are complex and can be conflicting.
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America runs its own studies and monitors those of others. For the past three years, however, there has been a slow, steady decline. Howe and Strauss cite many hopeful statistics. Polls show they see selfishness as the major cause of the nation's problems. They accept authority.