MORE KIDS DYING

Despite a decline in overall drug use, the rate at which young
Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 have been dying from drug
overdoses has jumped dramatically -- more than doubling between 1999
and 2005. In the same period, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, "accidental poisoning deaths" in this age
group, mostly drug overdoses, have jumped from 849 to 2,355.

Instead of rushing to save these young people, state governments are
actually shortchanging them. Only a tiny fraction of the money that
Washington sends to the states under the Substance Abuse and
Prevention and Treatment Block Grant program is aimed at young drug
abusers. This cannot go on.

Prescription painkillers like oxycodone and Vicodin are the most
common drugs involved in fatal overdoses by young people. The problem
need not be measured only in fatalities.

Other, more familiar kinds of drug abuse have increased as well: the
percentage of high school seniors who smoke marijuana on a daily
basis tripled from nearly 2 percent to 6 percent in the 1990s. The
number drifted down to 5.1 percent last year, but that is still
alarmingly high, and marijuana is more potent than ever.

Even so, fewer than 1 in 10 American adolescents who need drug
treatment get it, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration. This threatens their health and well being.
Drug abuse is also much more difficult and expensive to solve if it
is not addressed early.

Every year, Congress dispenses a block grant to the states for drug
treatment and prevention -- $1.75 billion in 2007. Yet it attaches
too few strings. States are not required to spend the money on
addiction treatments of proven effectiveness, leading to wasteful
experimentation. And while there are set-asides for groups like
pregnant women, there is no requirement that any of the money be
spent on adolescents. The states are left to decide whether to treat
the young, and how.

In 2006, less than 6 percent of the grant -- $104.8 million -- was
spent on people below the age of 25. And adolescents 17 and below
nationwide, arguably the most vulnerable group, received less than
one-third of that.

That's obviously not enough. If there is any doubt, just take another
look at the rising numbers of kids dying from drug overdoses.