Teenage Drug Abuse
In 1996, there were approximately twenty-two million teenagers in the United States on Drugs. A survey found that since 1992, teenage drug use has increased 105%, with a 33% jump between 1994 and 1995 alone. In the year 2000, if current rates continue, drug use among teens will match peak levels reached in 1979. American teenagers abuse drugs more than teens in any other country in the world so strict anti-drug laws focused on cutting the supply of illegal drugs and called for harsher penalties for dealers and users. Media’s coverage of drugs dropped a lot from 518 stories on the three major networks in 1989 to only 45 stories in 1992 and anti-drug funding from corporations dropped 30%. Lee Brown, the former federal drug policy director, explains that drug abuse “was on the radar screen up until the Persian Gulf War. Then it never surfaced as an issue again.” That is, until recently, when the number of teenage drug users soared and the availability of drugs on the streets hit an all time high. President Clinton responded to the responded to the statistics when he was in office by promising to make the teen drug issue a priority of his second term. Early in 1996 he had already named retired army general Barry McCaffrey the official “drug czar” to head the Office of Drug Control and had set up sanctions against the countries known for smuggling drugs into the United States. Even though the number of people arrested for drug-law violations doubled from 1984 to 1994, the antidrug measures have not halted the drug trade.
As a result of this, Donna E. Shalala, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), describes drug, alcohol, and tobacco use by teenagers as “a poison in the well of our national future.” The HHS is attempting to set up a comprehensive strategy to “give our young people the clear and unambiguous message that drugs are illegal, dangerous and wrong.” The department has enlisted the aid of the Parent Teacher Association to help parents teach their children about the dangers of drugs, petitioned Weekly Reader and Scholastic magazines to get new anti-drug materials into the classrooms, and asked the entertainment industry to stop glamorizing drug use. Can society really get the message of the dangers of drugs across to the millions of teenagers who abuse their bodies, destroy their families, and bring unrest or violence to their communities?
Sunny #4 Alex Katz
Looking at this makes me feel happy
With the tongue all sappy
The way Alex put the hair
How it blows in the air
Showing the beach in the back
Helps to bring some character
I see life, you see dog
We all see it differently
The year 1927, a great artist was born
Still alive today, making his art come to life
Alex, an 82 year old man
Still knows he can
Not seeing the eye
Makes your memories fly
Looking at this work of art,
Makes me feel heart!
