A SHARP increase in teenage drug use has put the White House on the defensive as the presidential contender, Mr Bob Dole, calls it a "national tragedy". A federal survey just released shows that 11 per cent of 22 million teenagers are using drugs, mainly marijuana but also cocaine and heroin.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Ms Donna Shalala, says that drug use by 12 year olds to 17 year olds has more than doubled since 1992. But the total number of illicit drug users has stayed constant over the past year at 12.8 million.
The national household survey on drug abuse carried out in 1995 has found increased use by teenagers of all races and ethnic groups in every region. Adolescent marijuana use had peaked in 1979 with 16.3 per cent reporting use but this figure declined steadily to 5.3 per cent in 1992.
The doubling of teenage drug use during the four years of the Clinton presidency is now being exploited by Republican opponents who recall Mr Clinton's "did not inhale" confession. Mr Dole has said that "starting next January, I'm going to make the drug war priority No. 1 again".
The Republican national committee chairman, Mr Haley Barbour, said in a statement "We shouldn't be surprised that Clinton is losing the war on drugs. From the beginning, he has treated illegal drug use with a wink and nod in his policies, appointments and the attitude of his administration".
It is pointed out that in 1993 President Clinton cut the staff of the Office of National Drug Control Policy by 80 per cent. It has recently been revealed that the FBI was concerned about the appointment of a number of drug users to the White House staff and there has been criticism of the recent admission by the President's spokesman, Mr Mike McCurry, that he had smoked cannabis as a student.
Democratic Party officials have retorted that Republican Speaker of the House, Mr Newt Gingrich, has also admitted that he smoked pot during his student days. The keynote speaker at last week's Republican convention, Ms Susan Molinari, was forced to admit that she had lied in a TV interview some years ago when she denied using drugs as a student.
Mr Clinton moved to stem criticism of his approach to the drug problem earlier this year when he appointed a retired army general, Mr Barry McCaffrey, as "drug czar" and increased staffing for his office. Mr McCurry has appealed to Republicans not to turn drug use into a "political football because that is the wrong message for kids".
Mr Lloyd Johnson, who is chief researcher on a major annual survey of student drug use, says that since 1991 there has been "a decrease in national attention to the issue of drug abuse and a growing glamourisation of drug use in popular music".