America's Youth | The Problem of Youth Substance Abuse Is Exaggerated

When I asked an assembly of 300 youths locked in Chicago’s mammoth juvenile prison why so few kids die from drugs (only seven of the city’s 900 overdose deaths in 1999 were teens), several shouted: “Because you don’t die from weed!” That’s the point both America’s disastrous “War on Drugs” and groups bent on reforming it are missing: the kids aren’t the problem. Yet, respected drug policy reform advocates like the Lindesmith Center now insist that stopping teenage drug use should be our most urgent policy priority. Lindesmith and other reformers claim that if drugs...

[The entire page is 1285 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass