FLORIDA'S KIDS MAKE RIGHT CHOICES ABOUT DRUGS

This week, Orlando will be host to the 17th Annual Statewide Drug
Prevention Conference, where more than 1,000 participants from federal
and state government, public and private organizations, community
coalitions and involved youth will gather to discuss and reinforce the
effectiveness of current prevention strategies and learn and share new
methods and ideas. Participants will take part in workshops,
presentations and activities where the constant free flow of ideas
will lead to innovative and effective means to continue prevention
efforts.

Florida has demonstrated impressive gains in drug-prevention efforts.
While the latest data from the Monitoring the Future Survey show mixed
trends among national youth rates, the 2003 Florida Youth Substance
Abuse Survey shows that the state's youth have widely rejected the use
of drugs and tobacco products for the fourth consecutive year. Youth
trend lines in Florida show consistent and significant decreases at
respective grade levels. This year, approximately 8,000 students were
surveyed in schools that represented a wide rural and urban
demographic to obtain statewide estimates for sixth-through
12th-graders in 37 of 67 counties.

Florida's successes have debunked the often-repeated myth that nothing
works in bringing down drug abuse. Florida's kids made the right
choices because they were given the chance. We know children
overwhelmingly reject substance abuse: 80 percent see marijuana use as
- - in their words - "uncool," 94 percent thought all other drugs
were uncool, and 95 percent thought the same of smoking. We also know
that children listen to their parents, and that they want adult
leaders to give them guidelines. What Florida did was give a voice to
these natural forces, and the state's young people are now walking
away from drugs, tobacco and alcohol at even greater rates.

The Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey shows us that major
categories of substances abused are down.

# Tobacco use is down more than 38 percent in three years: Smokeless
tobacco use has dropped 40 percent since 2000, and cigarette smoking
plummeted from 18.4 percent in 2000 to 11.5 percent in 2003.

# Heroin and crack cocaine use is down to one-half percent: Heroin use
has decreased 50 percent and is down to less than one-half of 1
percent, and crack cocaine use is down to 0.6 percent. LSD and PCP
past 30-day use is approximately half of what it was three years ago,
with a 47 percent decrease.

# Alcohol use decreased by 10 percent: Alcohol remains the most common
substance of abuse for children. For sixth-through 12th-graders,
current use rates are 30.9 percent. While this has dropped from 34.3
percent in 2000, the number of users remains stubbornly high.

# Ecstasy use is down 46 percent from two years ago: Ecstasy, which
showed signs of an alarming spread by the end of the 1990s, has been
nearly cut in half since 2001 -- the first year it was measured -- and
is currently at 1.5 percent past 30-day use.

# Marijuana use is down: Marijuana use by middle-school students
dropped 30 percent since 2000. However, high-school use rose slightly
last year. Overall, youth marijuana use is down 9 percent since 2000.
At 12.8 percent overall use, marijuana is the most widespread drug of
use.

# Prescription drug use: Illegal use of prescription drugs has not
spread as widely among children as it has among adults. OxyContin use,
for example, has been at 0.8 percent for the past two years, and 3.2
percent of surveyed youth reported illicit use of other painkillers in
the past 30 days.

Why has Florida seen declining drug-use numbers while the rest of the
nation's usage rates are going up?

Because our approach to the systemic drug problem our nation faces has
taken a unique, coordinated approach. Gov. Jeb Bush has identified
that much of the effort to bring down drug abuse should be focused on
prevention, education and treatment, with prevention being the
linchpin of the entire strategy. Reduction of the supply of drugs
through good law enforcement is key, but demand reduction provides the
best possible chance for success. What the research shows is that
children who grow to adulthood without abusing drugs, smoking tobacco
and drinking alcohol are highly unlikely to develop an addiction
problem later in life. The solution, then, is to keep as many children
free from substance abuse as long as we can, an outcome we are achieving.

The Governor's Office of Drug Control has emphasized expanding the
number of community coalitions across the state. Since 1999, the
number of counties with coalitions has more than doubled from 19 to 56
today. The goal is to have at least one in each of Florida's 67
counties. These grassroots efforts are an essential ingredient to the
formula that is helping Florida's youth make the right decisions to
stay drug free.