Compiled by Drug Policy Alliance. Jan 2002.
How does the drug war affect American children?
- Nearly 2 million minors have at least one parent behind bars in the U.S.(1) Fueled largely by the drug war, the incarcerated population in the United States has ballooned from 500,000 in 1980(2) to more than 2 million people in 2000.(3) There are now nearly half a million non-violent drug offenders in federal, state, and local prisons and jails for violating a drug law(4) - a greater number than Western Europe incarcerates for all offenses. Many non-violent drug offenders are first time offenders, and an increasing number are women - 7 out of 10 of whom have a child under the age of 18.(5)
- Half of all American juveniles in custody today have a father, mother or other close relative who has been in jail or prison.(6) Experts assert that having a parent behind bars is the factor that puts children at greatest risk of becoming a juvenile delinquent and adult criminal.(7)
- Juvenile arrest rates for drug law violations continue to rise - up 86% between 1989 and 1998.(8) While the Office of National Drug Control Policy says that one of its top priorities is to prevent children from using drugs, it spent only 10% of its fiscal year 2000 Federal Drug Control Budget on drug prevention programs, while nearly 50% of the budget was allocated to criminal justice and an additional 10% was spent on interdiction.(9)
- The drug war unfairly limits young people's access to higher education. The Higher Education Act, passed by Congress in 1998, restricts eligibility for any federal grant, loan or work assistance program for students convicted of a drug related offense, including simple marijuana possession.(10) Murderers and rapists are not subject to sanction under the Act.
What programs lose out because of the drug war?
Education. Because prisons and universities generally occupy the portion of a state's budget that is neither mandated by federal requirements nor driven by population, they often must "fight it out" for funding.(11)
- From 1987 to 1998 state spending on corrections increased by 30% while spending on higher education decreased by 18.2%.(12)
- State prison budgets are growing twice as fast as spending on public colleges and universities. (13)
Has the drug war reduced children's access to drugs?
No. According to a 1999 survey by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, drugs are readily available to America's high school students.
- Almost 90% of twelfth graders participating in the survey said that marijuana was "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get, over 47% said cocaine was "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get, and more than 32% said that heroin was "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get.(14)
- The same study found that more than 54% of high school seniors have tried illicit drugs - up from 44% a decade earlier.(15) The Center on Addiction and Substance abuse reports that teenagers consider marijuana even easier to get than beer.(16)
Is our current approach to drug prevention education working?
No. Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) reaches over 70% of elementary school children in the United States, making it far and away the most prevalent drug education program in use today.(17) Long term studies have found little or no difference in drug use between D.A.R.E. graduates and non graduates.(18)
Are there alternatives to the D.A.R.E. program?
Yes. Realistic drug education focuses on safety, avoiding scare tactics and unrealistic zero-tolerance expectations. Curricula such as "Just Say Know" acknowledge teens' ability to make reasoned decisions, differentiate between use and abuse, and stress the importance of moderation and context. Such programs are age-specific, emphasize student participation, and provide science-based, objective educational materials. Reality-based drug education equips students with information they trust -- the basis for making responsible decisions.
NOTES:
1. Women Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, U.S. Department of Justice, Page 8, December 1999.
2. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1998, U.S. Department of Justice, Page 462, Table 6.1, 1999.
3. National inmate population of two million projected for 2000 based on government data, The Sentencing Project, 2000
4. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1998, U.S. Department of Justice, Page 462, Table 6.1, 1999.
5. Women Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, U.S. Department of Justice, Page 7, December 1999
6. Fox Butterfield, Parents in Prison: A Special Report; As Inmate Population Grows, So Does a Focus on Children, The New York Times, April 7, 1999, Section A; Page 1.
7. Cynthia Harper, Ph.D. and Sarah S. McLanahan, Ph.D., Father Absence and Youth Incarceration, research presented at the American Sociological Association 1998 Annual Meeting in San Francisco (1998).
8. Howard N. Snyder, Juvenile Arrests 1998, U.S. Department of Justice, December 1999, page 1.
9. National Drug Control Strategy 2000 Annual Report, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Page 9, Table 3.
10. The Higher Education Act of 1998, 20 U.S.C. 109(r)(1)
11. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1998, Page 462, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1999
12. National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), (April 1996), 1995 State Expenditures Report, Page 55.
13. David Phinney, "Prison Funding Explodes in Growth," ABCNEWS.com, July 9, 1999.
14. Monitoring the Future, National Results on Adolescent Drug Abuse, Overview of key Findings 1999, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Page 48.
15. Monitoring the Future, National Results on Adolescent Drug Abuse, Overview of key Findings 1999, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Page 6.
16. Luntz Research Companies, National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse II: Teens and Their Parents, National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (1996), Foreword by Joseph Califano.
17. "Public Policy: Youth Drug Education/The D.A.R.E. Program," Drug Policy Foundation
18. Several studies have provided insight into the D.A.R.E. programs ineffectiveness. Included are: Lynam, Donald R., Milich, Richard, et al., "Project DARE: No Effects at 10-Year Follow-Up", Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, August 1999), Vol. 67, No. 4, 590-593; Ennett, S.T., et al., "How Effective Is Drug Abuse Resistance Education? A Meta-Analysis of Project DARE Outcome Evaluations," American Journal of Public Health, 84: 1394-1401 (1994).; Rosenbaum, Dennis, Assessing the Effects of School-based Drug Education: A Six Year Multilevel Analysis of Project DARE, Abstract (April 6, 1998).; Manski, Charles et al. "Informing America's Policy on Illegal Drugs: What we Don't Know Keeps Hurting Us", National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 2001,; Joel H. Brown, "Youth Drugs and Resilience Education" University of California, Berkeley, 2001.
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