While Monitoring the Future, conducted by University of Michigan researchers and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, indicates a decrease in teen use of marijuana and other drugs, the privately-funded PRIDE Survey showed a sharp rise in drug use: Monthly use of marijuana by junior-high students rose 51 percent from 2002 to 2003, and monthly use of heroin rose 60 percent. Despite the differences, both surveys confirm that ONDCP has failed by a large margin to meet goals set for it by Congress. Full PRIDE Survey results are available at http://www.pridesurveys.com .

"Apparently, Drug Czar John Walters only likes to publicize surveys that make federal policies look good, while ignoring everything else," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "Walters was strangely silent about this year's PRIDE Survey, though he touted it last year. The taxpayers deserve an honest discussion of the differences between these two surveys, because the bulk of the data suggest our current policies are failing. The only thing these results tell us for sure is that ONDCP has spectacularly failed to meet Congressional goals."

In the 1998 legislation reauthorizing ONDCP, Congress charged the office with reducing current teen drug use "to three percent of the adolescent population of the United States, or less, by December 31, 2003, and achievement of at least 20 percent of such reduction during each of 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003."

"Teen drug use still ranges from three to eight times the level Congress mandated, depending on the age group," Kampia said. "Nearly as many kids are smoking marijuana now as when the survey began in 1975, and more are smoking marijuana now than a decade ago. It is painfully obvious that our current policies are not preventing teens from obtaining and using marijuana. In the Netherlands, which has replaced marijuana prohibition with a system of responsible regulation, teen use of marijuana and hard drugs is dramatically lower than in the U.S. It's time to take an honest look at whether we can do better by changing our approach."