Myth: Marijuana Use Can Be Prevented

Drug education and prevention programs reduced marijuana use during the 1980s. Since then, our commitment has slackened, and marijuana use has been rising. By expanding and intensifying current anti-marijuana messages, we can stop youthful experimentation.

Fact: There is no evidence that anti-drug messages diminish young people's interest in drugs. Anti-drug campaigns in the schools and the media may even make drugs more attractive. Marijuana use among youth declined throughout the 1980s, and began increasing in the 1990s. This increase occurred despite young people's exposure to the most massive anti-marijuana campaign in American history. In a number of other countries, drug education programs are based on a "harm reduction" model, which seeks to reduce the drug-related harm among those young people who do experiment with drugs.

• Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse." New York (1995):28.

• Brown, Lee. Director of National Drug Control Policy, remarks at National Conference on Marijuana Use: Prevention, Treatment, and Research. Sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Arlington, VA (July 1995).

• Califano, Joseph A. "Don’t Stop This War." Washington Post 26 May 1996: C7.

• Shalala, Donna. "Marijuana: A Recurring Problem." Prevention Pipeline 8.5 (1995): 2.

• Burke, James. [Partnership for a Drug-Free America]. Interview. MS-NBC with Tom Brokaw. MS-NBC, 3 September 1996.

• Falco, Mathea. The Making of a Drug-Free America: Programs That Work. New York: Times Books, 1992. 202.