
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document affected by Public Law 107-82 Section 1(a)]
[Document affected by Public Law 107-82 Section 4]
[Document affected by Public Law 107-82 Section 5]
[CITE: 21USC1521]

 
                        TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS
 
                CHAPTER 20--NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL PROGRAM
 
                  SUBCHAPTER II--DRUG-FREE COMMUNITIES
 
Sec. 1521. Findings

    Congress finds the following:
        (1) Substance abuse among youth has more than doubled in the 5-
    year period preceding 1996, with substantial increases in the use of 
    marijuana, inhalants, cocaine, methamphetamine, LSD, and heroin.
        (2) The most dramatic increases in substance abuse has occurred 
    among 13- and 14-year-olds.
        (3) Casual or periodic substance abuse by youth today will 
    contribute to hard core or chronic substance abuse by the next 
    generation of adults.
        (4) Substance abuse is at the core of other problems, such as 
    rising violent teenage and violent gang crime, increasing health 
    care costs, HIV infections, teenage pregnancy, high school dropouts, 
    and lower economic productivity.
        (5) Increases in substance abuse among youth are due in large 
    part to an erosion of understanding by youth of the high risks 
    associated with substance abuse, and to the softening of peer norms 
    against use.
        (6)(A) Substance abuse is a preventable behavior and a treatable 
    disease; and
        (B)(i) during the 13-year period beginning with 1979, monthly 
    use of illegal drugs among youth 12 to 17 years of age declined by 
    over 70 percent; and
        (ii) data suggests that if parents would simply talk to their 
    children regularly about the dangers of substance abuse, use among 
    youth could be expected to decline by as much as 30 percent.
        (7) Community anti-drug coalitions throughout the United States 
    are successfully developing and implementing comprehensive, long-
    term strategies to reduce substance abuse among youth on a sustained 
    basis.
        (8) Intergovernmental cooperation and coordination through 
    national, State, and local or tribal leadership and partnerships are 
    critical to facilitate the reduction of substance abuse among youth 
    in communities throughout the United States.

(Pub. L. 100-690, title I, Sec. 1021, as added Pub. L. 105-20, 
Sec. 2(a)(2), June 27, 1997, 111 Stat. 224.)
