We all should take heart and celebrate some remarkable progress in the last 10–15 years. Think of that sense of hopelessness I heard from editorial boards, all the hand wringing that was going on in the 1980s about taming the substance abuse beast, and look at the social turnaround we have seen.
       The number of people who use illegal drugs monthly dropped from 23.3 million in 1985 to 13.6 million in 1998. That’s 9.7 million fewer users, a 42 percent drop. Criminologists tell us that reductions in crack cocaine use were important factors behind remarkable declines in murder and violent crimes in the 1990s. Homicide rates have gone from 9.4 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1990 to 5.7 per 100,000 in 1999; aggravated assaults dropped from 424.1 to 336.1 per 100,000 inhabitants during the same time. Rates of drug and tobacco use among youth were also on the rise and now are stabilizing or even declining. Arrests for driving under the influence have dropped—down 18 percent from 1990 to 1997, even as the number of licensed drivers rose 15 percent. And the declines in motor vehicle-related deaths are in large part due to reductions in drunk driving.
    An array of research and communication efforts is giving substance abuse high public visibility. The power of the numbers helped persuade our Foundation to give the field priority, and that message about the impact of substance abuse and the effects of current policies is reaching the public like never before.

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