Drugs destroy millions of lives every year.

Popularized in the 1960s by music and mass media, they invade all aspects of society.

The problem has many faces—from the college student dancing for three days straight in an ecstasy-or methamphetamine-fueled rave, to the school child addicted to Ritalin (methylphenidate); from the mother who cannot get through a day without taking pills for depression, to the CEO addicted to cocaine.

According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime’s 2005 World Drug Report, an estimated 200 million people, or 5 percent of the world’s population age 15–64, consume illegal drugs. This is an increase of 15 million drug users over that of a year before.

160 million people abuse cannabis (including marijuana and hashish), making it the most prevalent illicit substance, followed by amphetamine-type stimulants (34.1 million),opiates (15.9 million) and cocaine (13.7 million).

In the United States, results from the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that 19.5 million Americans (or 8.2 percent of the population age 12 or older) were illicit drug users in the month prior to the survey.

Drug abuse affects all aspects of society. Abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs causes an estimated $276 billion in annual economic costs.

Substance abusers incur 300 percent higher medical costs than non-abusers. They are 1/3 less productive on the job and are 2.5 times more likely to be absent from work eight or more days a year.

The most disturbing aspect of this problem is how drug abuse damages our young people—and the threat this represents to the future of every country. Like their adult counterparts, they suffer more illnesses, miss more days of school and are more prone to engage in criminal conduct.

In Europe, recent studies among 15-year-olds suggest that use of cannabis varies from under 10 percent to over 30 percent, with the highest rates reported by boys in the United Kingdom (42.5 percent).

Use of cocaine in Europe is on the increase. In Spain and the United Kingdom, the level compares with that in the United States (2 percent). Cocaine use among young people has risen in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands.

Young people today are exposed earlier than ever to drugs. By survey, 45 percent of the children in public schools in the United States have tried drugs or alcohol, or are using them, by the time they are 13 years old.

While we can prosecute drug dealers and try to disrupt their distribution networks, to anyone who has worked in the field for any length of time that is a never-ending task. As long as there is a demand for illicit drugs, there will be people willing to supply that demand—a simple economic reality.

It is vital to reach young people before they decide to start on drugs. Studies suggest that if a young person can get through age 21 without using illicit drugs, they are unlikely ever to do so.