Drug use down for teenagers, up for boomers

The annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health has revealed a mixture of news, some good and some bad. Good news first; Illicit drug use among teenagers has gone down for the third consecutive year - from 11.6% in 2002 to 9.9% in 2005. Now the bad news; In case of baby boomers of age between 50 and 59, 4.4% admitted to have used illicit drugs in the past month, making it the third consecutive yearly increase recorded in this category.

John P. Walters, head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, stated that such a trend was the harbinger of "a cultural change" which the US will witness. The survey also shows that the use of illegal drugs in the U.S has changed little since 2002. In fact, the drug use has increased marginally in 2005.

67,500 people were interviewed in the annual survey on drug use and health, which provides insights into extent and degree of usage of drugs like marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine among Americans.

The increase in usage of illicit drugs was reported not only amongst boomers, but also among the 18-25 age categories, where drug use rose from 19.4% to 20.1%.

David Murray, special assistant to the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, termed the findings as rare and said, “Rarely have we seen a story like this where this is such an obvious contrast as one generation goes off stage right, and entering stage left is a generation that learned a lesson somehow and they’re doing something very different.”

Drugs are widely available and are dirt cheap in the U.S in spite of the government’s best effort. United States spends billions to check this menace, but in vain.

This trend of declining drug usage amongst teens is healthy and would keep the federal drug policy officials beaming. It would do a lot of good to America, if the elders also learn from these teenyboppers.