American adolescents increased their use of most illicit substances throughout the 1990s after a significant drop in the previous decade, and in 1999 Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey responded to the recent Monitoring the Future study by saying drug use "remains unacceptably high" (University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, 1999). Data on special populations such as infants, the homeless, the ELDERLY, and those with HIV/AIDS indicate increasing needs for prevention and education throughout the life span. COCAINE and HEROIN patients in emergency rooms have also increased since 1990 and the American Lung Association estimates that 430,700 Americans die each year from diseases directly related to smoking. Clearly, the use of ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, and other drugs—whether licit or illicit—by various age groups and special populations continues to be a problem in the United States.

The concept of prevention has evolved since the 1960s to become much...