Sec. 2. Findings
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/bill/114/s/1984/is/section-2·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds that— the fiduciary responsibility of the United States to Indians includes protecting future generations of Indians from the harmful effects of illegal drugs; testimony at numerous congressional hearings has established that rampant drug abuse on Indian lands has had an especially destructive impact on the lives and families of all Native Americans, including Native Americans who do not use drugs; the report entitled Rates of Substance Use of American Indian Students in 8th, 10th, and 12th Grades Living on or Near Reservations:
Update, 2009–2012 , published by Public Health Reports with funds from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health, indicates that 56.2 percent of eighth grade Native American children and 61.4 percent of tenth grade Native American children who attend school on Indian lands had used marijuana, as compared to the national average of 16.4 percent and 33.4 percent, respectively; according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, individuals who begin using an illegal drug at a young age are far more likely than individuals who do not begin using an illegal drug at a young age— to use other drugs; to be incarcerated; and to have a lower quality of life; according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, American Indians and Alaska Natives experience some of the highest rates of substance use, as compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the United States; the National Institutes of Health have shown that marijuana use— may cause permanent developmental damage to the brain; and is linked to poor educational outcomes; the higher incidence of illegal drug use in Indian country, as compared to the rest of the United States, has directly contributed to higher levels of poverty and crime and a lower life expectancy in Indian country; according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in 2010, American Indians and Alaska Natives had a 17.1 percent rate of drug-induced death, the highest rate among other racial and ethnic groups in the United States; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report entitled CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report–United States, 2013 , from 1999–2010, American Indians and Alaska Natives aged between 30 and 40 years experienced the highest drug-induced death rate, as compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the United States; and Federal law already prohibits the production, cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of marijuana.