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REMARKS BY:	DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:		National Institute on Drug Abuse
		National Conference on Heroin Use and Addiction, Washington, D.C.
DATE:		September 29, 1997

It's said that the great Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, once boarded a train there-and in the general confusion, promptly lost his ticket.

The conductor immediately recognized him and said, "Never mind, Mr. Justice. When you find your ticket, I'm certain you'll mail it in."

"Mr. Conductor," replied the Justice, "the question isn't `Where is my ticket?', but `Where am I supposed to be going?'"

I tell this story, because in our journey to end the tragedy of heroin addiction, there are no one-way tickets or express routes.

But scientific research that can tell us where we are, and guide us to where we need to go.

First, we know that research can lift the veil on the current face of heroin.

And what we see is that, although heroin continues to plague all Americans, it's trap is increasingly ensnaring our young people.

Young people like Cathy.

Our children are returning to school right now, but Cathy won't be going with them.

She was only seventeen years old-full of hope and promise-and waging a battle against drug addiction.

But like the ancient sirens whose singing lured mariners to their deaths, heroin's pull was too much for Cathy.

One night, she decided to go with two friends to buy the drug.

It was cheap.it was easy to get.and this time it was deadly.

This time Cathy had a bad reaction.

She went into convulsions and momentarily stopped breathing.

And the next morning, her father found her dead.

Imagine how you'd feel as a parent, your only child lost to the death grip of heroin.

Unfortunately, Cathy's father is not alone.

Because of our work, and the work of others, we have seen a glimmer of hope in the fight to keep our children away from drugs.

The 1996 Household Drug Survey showed us that drug use among teens declined for the first time since 1992.

And teen use of alcohol and marijuana has also leveled off.

But despite the encouraging news, we can hardly claim victory.

Not when the same study showed that first time heroin use by teenagers increased fourfold from the 1980s to 1995.

Not when the number of teenage girls admitted for heroin addiction to substance abuse centers that receive public funds increased by nearly 20% from 1992 to 1995.

Not when there were more than 140,000 new heroin users in 1995-and most of them were under twenty-six.

We can't let this trend continue.

We must fight this battle for the child who is smoking heroin-and letting a life of promise and potential go up in a puff of smoke.

We must fight it for the adolescent who is buying drugs-and mortgaging their future hopes and dreams.

We must fight it for young girls like Cathy.so that they never share her fate. A strategy that's comprehensive, tough and bold.

As General McCaffrey will point out, that's what this Administration has worked to achieve.

Yes, the strategy includes law enforcement.

So that we send a clear message that everyone who sells heroin-or any drug- should be prosecuted.

And so that we stop the cartels and their street-level dealers long before they can seduce our kids with their poison.

But the strategy must also include treatment and prevention.

As you will hear, under Dr. Leshner's leadership, the National Institute on Drug Abuse is doing cutting edge research on the science of addiction and how heroin can actually change an addict's brain.

This research will allow us to discover and formulate more effective treatments for heroin addiction.

And that's important.

A recent study of over 4,100 clients in federally funded substance abuse programs showed that a year after treatment, the rate of respondents reporting heroin use declined forty-six percent.

And our Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is going to be listening to what comes out of this conference.

So we can study and implement some of the most promising new treatment approaches as part of our youth heroin initiative.

But we must also continue to prevent heroin abuse-and all drug abuse-before it starts.

And we must do it in a targeted, sophisticated way.

Our research clearly shows that people start using drugs-and keep using drugs- for different reasons.

Kids for different reasons than adults.

And girls for different reasons than boys.

Our strategy must reflect that.

That's the purpose of our Girl Power Campaign.

We know that the gender gap in substance abuse has narrowed.

We know that girls age nine to fourteen face unique challenges and barriers.

And we knew that we needed to create messages and programs for girls that not only prevent drug abuse and other risky behaviors, but also give them the confidence they need to get active, get strong, and make the most of their lives.

Research can continue to help us understand why young people are specifically using heroin; what motivates young girls and boys to start; and what kinds of innovative strategies we can enlist to make sure they never do.

That is our challenge, and it must be our mandate.

Which leads to my third and final point.

I've talked a lot about teenagers today, partly because that's when most drug abuse starts.

But research has shown us that we can't wait until then to talk to our kids about drugs.

If we want to immunize our children against the threat of heroin, we must find anti-drug messages that work, and we must send them early and often.

Data from the Partnership for a Drug Free America, shows that children tend to have strong anti-drug attitudes right up until the age of twelve.

But those attitudes begin to change right before the teen years-as kids start to receive an assault of pro-use messages from popular culture and other sources.

We must all speak as one voice, sustaining our children's initial anti-drug attitudes throughout their teen years-so that they never fall victim, like Cathy, to the seductive siren of pro-use messages. Or to the fatal glamour of heroin.

Three times this century-during its opening years, at the height of the Jazz Age, and throughout much of the 1960's and 70's, heroin use was thought to be glamorous.

And each time, the glamour faded-usually because of the death of a celebrity. Only this time, it's particularly stalking our young girls.

Too often today, when girls open a fashion magazine, instead of seeing pictures of health, they see pictures of heroin chic.

Models with drawn faces, eyes rimmed in black smudges, almost death-like.

Long before they enter adolescence, we need to send our kids anti-drug messages that will drown out the pro-use messages blaring from magazines and music.

We need to tell them that any style, song or show that glamorizes heroin use is mirroring the reality of addiction in a fun house mirror.

And we need to convince them that heroin is not the stuff of dreams, but the stuff of nightmares.

We must de-glamorize heroin once and for all.

So that no future generation is ever seduced by its deadly charms.

The task may seem daunting, but it's not impossible.

When we as a nation focus on a problem, when we raise our voices, when we involve parents, teachers and community leaders in the fight, we can always make a difference.

We need to keep up a steady drumbeat of anti-drug messages echoing from every corner of our society.

Parents, the single most profound influence on our children, need to sit down at the kitchen table and talk to their kids-early and often.

But their guidance must be reinforced when their children leave the house.

Coaches, clergy, teachers, the media and everyone else involved in our children's lives need to tell them early and often that heroin chic is not attractive. It's ugly.

Scientists and researchers must find new ways to tell our kids early and often that heroin attacks the body, assaults the brain and assails the spirit.

And all of us need to tell them early and often that heroin kills.

We must do it now.

I'm reminded that Oliver Wendell Holmes-perhaps on that famous train trip- once noted, "The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving."

I know that all of you will help us move forward in our battle against heroin.

And I know that, working together, we can win.

Thank you.

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