Judiciary Committee Hearing on "Drug Abuse Among our Children: A Growing National Crisis"

June 17, 1998

Children and teens in America are, unfortunately, continuing to experiment with and use illegal drugs and alcohol at a disturbing rate. According to the 1996 Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 9 percent of teenagers have reported using illicit drugs in the past month while approximately 19 percent reported using alcohol in the same time period. These are very troubling figures. While some of my colleagues may focus their remarks today on whether drug or alcohol use by teenagers has increased or decreased over the past few years, I think the more important issue is how do we significantly reduce the number of children in the U.S. abusing drugs and alcohol?

One key step is reauthorizing funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Unfortunately, some on the other side of the aisle have been holding up passage of this important bill, which was voted out of this Committee last November. This bill outlines the Administration's plans to cut drug use in the U.S. significantly over the next decade and requires annual reports to Congress to update us on how the Office is proceeding in its comprehensive TenYear Strategy. This ONDCP reauthorization bill would also establish a Parents Advisory Council on Youth Drug Abuse to advise the President and his Cabinet on how best to reduce teen drug use. I urge my colleagues to support this bill so the Office of National Drug Control Policy can move ahead with its welldeveloped Strategy knowing they are fully authorized for the next three years.

I am pleased that General McCaffery is joining us again today to discuss the work of his office and their ongoing efforts to reduce teen drug use. In previous hearings, General McCaffrey has explained ONDCP's TenYear Strategy in great detail. One of the most impressive and important pieces of that Strategy is the Administration's efforts to stop kids from starting to use drugs or alcohol. I am sure many in this room have seen or heard the thoughtprovoking ads which ONDCP has developed, in collaboration with the Partnership for a DrugFree America (PDFA), and are now airing on area television and radio shows and in the local papers. I have found these ads to be provocative and am pleased that ONDCP and PDFA are aiming these ads at both teenagers and their parents and other influential adults. In fact, two of the most effective ads I have seen lately are targeting grandparents and their unique role and ability to discuss difficult topics such as drug use and abuse with their grandchildren. I applaud General McCaffrey and his staff for the hard work they have put into this project and their other efforts to prevent and reduce illegal drug use by children and teenagers across the U.S.

I also urge support for my amendment to pending legislation in order to reauthorize several effective programs for atrisk youth, the same youth who are most likely to use drugs or abuse alcohol. My amendment would reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) and the Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention Programs, otherwise known as the Title V programs. The RHYA programs provide funding to local community groups which are working with children and teens who have run away from home or become homeless, many of whom either use drugs or are fleeing a household where drugs or alcohol are abused. The Title V programs provide "seed" money to local communities which have developed a comprehensive juvenile delinquency plan, often including drug treatment referrals, and need some additional funding to implement their plan fully. My amendment would also reauthorize specific funding for the Drug Education and Prevention Programs for Runaway and Homeless Youth and GangAffiliated Youth. These programs have provided funding in the past to community groups which are working with targeted highrisk groups teens who have run away or are homeless and youth who are affiliated with gangs or are at risk to do so.

I also urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fight with me to ensure that there is funding available to States for both drug testing and treatment if S.10, the Violent and Repeat Offender Act, comes up for a vote on the Senate floor this summer. Right now, S.10 requires States to test juvenile delinquents for drug use, but provides no specific funding for treatment once a State determines which youth are using illegal drugs. It makes no sense to me for the federal government to require States to test juveniles who have been arrested if it is not going to help bear the cost of treating some of these same teens. As General McCaffrey and others who will testify here today know, determining which youth are using illegal drugs or alcohol is just the first step in helping these youth turn their lives around. We need to make sure that these children have a real chance of kicking a drug or alcohol problem at an early age. Making intensive treatment services and counseling readily available to juvenile delinquents and other youth is critical to this goal.

Another issue of great importance in my home state is reducing the number of teens who abuse alcohol. Last September, two teenagers from Montpelier were killed after leaving a party in Adamant and then, in March, four more teenagers from Orleans died after having apparently spent the evening drinking and celebrating a friend's 18th birthday across the border in Canada. This is too many wasted lives. As a result of these tragedies, community leaders, teenagers and law enforcement officers throughout Vermont are now discussing various solutions to teen alcohol abuse.

Just two months ago, I met with such a group in Newport, Vermont, to consider how best to reduce the number of local teens using alcohol and to let them know that Vermont would soon be receiving over $300,000 in new federal funding to combat underage drinking. Other communities are beginning to implement new strategies such as the "zero tolerance" policy in Montpelier and a new "Stop Teen Alcohol Risk Team" (START) in Chittenden County. This START project has provided the manpower for law enforcement agencies to "visit" large teen parties and then call parents to escort their children home. In the past, the one or two officers responding to concerns about a large party were often overwhelmed by the number of teenagers present.

In other communities in Vermont, the teenagers themselves are developing solutions and alternatives to alcoholfocused parties. One of these solutions is the Essex Teen Center which opened last fall and provides a place for teens after school and on weekend evenings. Other teen centers are cropping up and expanding throughout the State and teenagers are flocking to them because they are a place for these youngsters to have fun without the pressure to abuse alcohol. I plan to make sure that this Congress provides adequate funding to State and local governments and community groups so these successful efforts in my State can continue to thrive and may perhaps even be replicated in other parts of the country.