Published September 1970 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Drug Abuse-A Crisis for the Young According to public health officials, drug abuse among America's young has grown from a minor social problem to an epidemic of crisis proportions; and drug abuse is now considered by many to be the greatest menace facing our society. As recently as 15 years ago, the use of narcotics was thought to be an adult problem, ever-present but easily controllable. However, facts compiled by law enforcement and health agencies throughout the United States have now proven otherwise. In 1958, only 35 percent of the drug arrests involved persons under 25; today, 77 percent of those arrested have not yet reached their 25th birthday. The last 12 years have also seen the number of drug arrests for persons under 18 rise from 4 percent to 27 percent. During the 1960's, the number of juvenile arrests for various drug violations skyrocketed by almost 800 percent; and, for the first time in our nation's history, children under 13 were among those taken into custody. Basically, there are two categories of drugs: narcotics, the so-called "hard" drugs; and dangerous drugs, which have not yet been proved conclusively to be addictive. Drugs listed in both categories have found their primary markets among the young. Of the 900 deaths caused by heroin in New York City last year, 25 percent were children in their teens. Nationwide, the average age of those who died using heroin has dropped from age 35 in 1950 to age 23 last year. The use of narcotic drugs can cost an addict up to $150 a day. Thus, most of America's young drug users have concentrated on experimenting with stimulants, which arc called "pep pills," and depressants, or "goof balls" -both of which are available upon prescription at most local drug stores, at a cost of only 10 or 15 cents each. Over 8 billion of these pills are produced annually in the United States, and The Food and Drug Administration estimates that as many as half of them are sold illegally. These pills, along with marijuana, are the most widely abused drugs among the young. As evidence of the popularity of marijuana, its cost has jumped from $8 an ounce last year to almost $20 an ounce this year; and, of 14,000 juvenile drug arrests last year in California, 11,000 were for possession or use of marijuana. Drug abuse must be fought with the same intensity with which we would fight any dangerous disease epidemic-•for if it is allowed to go unchecked, it can undermine our nation's hopes, aspirations, and values by destroying the generation which must soon accept responsibility for America's continued survival. SEP 30 1970