The remarkable progress made during the Reagan Era of "Just Say No" has been supplanted by rapid reversals in the Clinton Era of "I Wish I Had Inhaled."

While historians will remember that it was in June 1992 that Bill Clinton went on MTV and said that he wished that he had inhaled when he tried marijuana for the first time, America's parents long for the days of yore, since they now face the drug war and its subsequent casualties at home every night.

Youth Drug Use Continues its Deadly Rise on Clinton's Watch

According to the most recent annual National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (issued in August) by the Health and Human Service Department (HHS), youth drug use has continued its annual climb under President Clinton.

• During 1997, 11.4 percent of America's children (more than 2.5 million), ages 12 to 17, reported recent use of an illicit drug -- including marijuana, cocaine, inhalants, hallucinogens (PCP, LSD), heroin, and the non-medical use of any psychotherapeutic (stimulants, sedatives, etc.) drug. This is a stunning 27-percent increase in just one year.

This upward trend under Clinton is a sharp reversal from the Reagan-Bush years. Again, according to HHS, the recent illegal drug use figure was experiencing consistent annual declines from its 1979 peak of 16.3 percent; falling all the way to 5.3 percent in 1992. But then, in a span of five years, all on the Clinton Administration's watch, more than half of that hard-won progress has been lost. This loss is not measured in dollars and cents, but in lives lost to the scourge of drugs. Since Clinton assumed leadership on the so-called war on drugs, more than one million additional young teenagers have reported recent illicit drug use.

• The rate of increase of marijuana use by 12-to-17-year-olds is alarming. Compared to 1992's historic low of 3.4 percent, the most recent figure of 9.4 percent of young people reporting recent use of marijuana reflects a three-fold increase in five years.
• The rate of increase in cocaine use is equally stunning. More than three times as many 12-to-17-year-olds reported recent use of cocaine in 1997 as they did in 1992.

Last year alone, the rate of cocaine use among that age group increased by 67 percent, while the use of crack cocaine doubled.

• Probably worst of all, the drug war is now claiming victims among the youngest of our nation's children. The greatest percentage increase of recent illicit drug use is seen among 12 and 13-year-olds. The one-year increase was 73 percent. Among 16 and 17-year-olds, use increased 23 percent. And use of marijuana by 12 and 13-year-olds more than doubled last year, compared to 1996.

Administration Not Helping, May Be Hurting Anti-Drug Efforts

In the last year, this Administration has ignored the plight of our nation's most at-risk population for drug addiction. Instead of protecting our borders from the ever-increasing inflow of illegal narcotics or repeating the very successful message of the 1980's "just say no" to drugs, this Administration appears instead to be taking steps to make drug use easier and less costly in some communities.