Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Institute on Drug Abuse released the 2004 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey. The MTF survey showed a 6% decrease in illegal drug use by teenagers between 2003 and 2004.

In 2002, President Bush set ambitious goals to reduce teen drug use by 10% in two years, and 25% in five years. The 2003 MTF survey showed that we had exceeded the two year goal, with an 11 % reduction. Over the past three years there has been a 17% decrease in teenage drug use.

“There are now 600,000 fewer teens using drugs than there were in 2001,” said John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy. “This is real progress. We know that if we can prevent kids from trying drugs in their teenage years, we dramatically reduce the likelihood that they will go on to have problems later in life. The results released today are good news for American parents and teens, and great news for our country.”