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	U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

REMARKS BY:	TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:	Recovery Month/The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse News Conference, National Press Club, Washington, DC
DATE:	September 5, 2002

Thank you so very much, Charley Curie, for your kind introduction. Charley is doing a tremendous job at SAMHSA and is a valued counselor to me and an asset to the President's team.

I'm pleased to be here at the National Press Club and to join all of you, and especially my colleague John Walters, for the 13th annual "Observance of Recovery" Month and the release of our National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

Recovery Month is a time when our country celebrates the accomplishments of people in recovery from addiction to drugs and alcohol. And we cannot thank our treatment providers enough for the noble work they do - day in and day out - to help restore the lives of individuals destroyed by drug and alcohol addiction.

Let me recognize Ivette Torres for her work in coordinating Recovery Month. It's largely because of her efforts that Recovery Month has gone from being a little-noticed commemoration to a national movement, and I so appreciate her tremendous work.

We welcome people in recovery back into the community as contributing members of our society. It's hard to conquer a chemical addiction. It takes extraordinary courage, tough self-discipline, the help of caring and knowledgeable friends and family and, as our Faith-Based Initiative emphasizes, deep personal faith.

Every life lost to addiction is one too many. But perhaps especially for young people, substance abuse is such a painful waste. To see someone at the dawn of life's promise shattered by the despair and dehumanization of drugs and alcohol is nothing less than tragic.

In the words of the great American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald - himself an alcoholic who died at the age of 44 - "First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you." This is true of drugs, of course, as well.

That's why the findings we are releasing today from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse are cause for particular concern. I should tell all of you that the Survey has been managed and put together by Joe Gfroerer of SAMHSA, and Joe, my hat is off to you and your staff for another exceptional job.

Overall, the Household Survey estimated that 16.6 million Americans aged 12 or older in 2001 were classified with dependence on or abuse of either alcohol or illicit drugs. This is 7.3 percent of the total population.

One of the most disturbing findings of the survey is that as the perception that marijuana is dangerous goes down, its use goes up.

My friends, the idea that marijuana is benign is completely inaccurate. It's dangerous in its own right … it's addictive … and it leads to the use of even more destructive illicit drugs. The hard scientific data about those facts - that marijuana is damaging to the brain, to motor skills, to the heart and the nervous system, and that it is the first step toward drugs like heroin and cocaine - are indisputable.

The upswing in marijuana use affects the young most directly. More than a quarter of first-time marijuana users are under 15. Nearly three-quarters are under 18.

Let me be as clear as I can be: Marijuana is not some harmless chemical toy but a clear and present danger to the health and well-being of all its users, most especially to young people with developing minds and bodies. Those who would downplay this message are ignoring the hard science and are doing a disservice to the nation's families and children.

The survey also shows that between 2000 and 2001 there was an increase in the estimated number of persons aged 12 and older needing treatment for an illicit drug problem.

The survey indicates that our current treatment system is not able to help all those in need of drug treatment … and also that the overwhelming majority of users characterized by dependence or abuse do not see themselves as actually requiring drug treatment. This tendency is particularly pronounced among adolescents and young adults.

Also for the first time in 2001, the Household Survey included questions for adults that measure serious mental illness, or S-M-I. In 2001, there were nearly 15 million adults 18 or older with S-M-I. And among adults with S-M-I in 2001, 20 percent were dependent on or abused alcohol or illicit drugs.

In 2001, an more than four million young people between 12 and 17 received treatment or counseling for emotional or behavioral problems in the 12 months prior to the interview. The reason cited most often by youths for the latest mental health treatment session was "felt depressed", followed by "breaking rules or acting out." Many of these young people said they had "thought about or tried suicide."

With all of that said, there is some good news. In 1997, roughly 1.1 million young people, ages 12 through 17, began the smoking habit. That worked out to about 3,000 every day.

In the year 2000, there were about 750,000 new teenage smokers. Now, that's still way too many, but it's a drop of about one-third from just three years before.

I'm so very proud the role HHS has played in this decline. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health is responsible for leading and coordinating strategic efforts aimed at preventing tobacco use among youth, promoting smoking cessation among youth and adults, protecting nonsmokers from environmental tobacco smoke and eliminating tobacco-related health disparities.

And the President's Healthier US initiative, which I'm so very pleased to help spearhead, is making smoking prevention and cessation a major public health goal.

But, obviously, we have a long way to go when it comes to smoking and the even more destructive addictions we're discussing here today. It pains me to recite the statistics I've just gone over because they are not mere numerical abstractions. They represent individual human lives - our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our neighbors and our colleagues.

So let me assure everyone in this audience, and everyone in America, that President Bush and I are committed to substantially - dramatically - reducing the number of people caught in the web of addiction and mental illness.

We also recognize that the most important work to reduce drug use is done in America's living rooms and classrooms, in churches and synagogues, in the workplace and in our neighborhoods. Families, schools, communities, and faith-based organizations shape the character of young people. They teach children right from wrong, respect for the law, respect for others and respect for themselves. They're indispensable. And we stand ready to assist them in every possible way.

Fighting drug and alcohol abuse and cigarette smoking is difficult, but it must not deter us. We have to keep up the fight, in part because we know from past experience we can win it … and, even more importantly, because it's right.

It's been said that if you aim at nothing, that's what you'll get. Our aim is specific, direct and attainable: A drug-free America. It's a goal that, working together, we can and must achieve.

I look forward to continuing to join John Walters and Charley Curie in this critical effort and reporting back to you on the accomplishments of the President's strategy.