drugs are one of the obstacles. host: nora volkow, director of the national institute on drug abuse. the website, if you want to read this study is drugabuse.gov. we appreciate your time. guest: thank you. host: thank you. we will take you to the floor of the u.s. house of representatives. it's a very busy wednesday. it's a very busy week in congress as they try to wrap up plenty of business in this lame duck session. the senate will vote later this morning, early afternoon, on the tax cut package. we may see the house take a vote on the same package later today. it may or may not be changed in the house before they take that vote. you can watch that live on c- span. the house is also expected to take up a repeal of the don't take up a repeal of the don't ask don't tell

a new report from the national institute on drug abuse shows teenage drug use is up, especially among eighth-graders. and a judge in britain agreed to release the founder of the wikileaks web site on bail. but prosecutors are challenging that decision on behalf of sweden, which wants him extradited on sex crime charges. and to hari sreenivasan in our newsroom, for what's on the newshour online. hari? >> sreenivasan: there's more on the life and work of richard holbrooke, including video of some of his many newshour appearances. miles o'brien filed a blog post on what it was like to travel to indonesia's mount merapi for his recent science story on volacanos. plus it's "tools tuesday" on paul solman's making sense page. every week, paul and his team highlight useful financial resources online. tonight, use an interactive graphic to find out what extending the tax cuts means for you. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll look at the house debate and vote on repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tel

timothy condon, deputy director, national institute on drug abuse, national institutes of health, u.s. department of health and human services, rockville, maryland; dr. barbara krantz, chief executive officer and medical director, hanley center, west palm beach, florida; beverly gmerek, prescription drug abuse prevention program coordinator, peer assistance services inc., denver, colorado. dr. clark, how prevalent is prescription drug misuse in the united states? well, we estimate that there are approximately 15 million people who misuse prescription drugs in the united states, and that gives us an estimated 2.5 million new initiates per year, or, if you think about it, that's about 7,000 new initiates a day. and within that, do one age group uses it more than others? what is the distribution among the age groups? well, i think the most important thing to keep in mind is that prescription drug abuse affects the entire age range. we might see some peak use in the 18 to 25-year-olds, but it is a problem that confronts every age range, and what we shouldn't do is to simply dismiss it as

a doctor of the national institute on drug abuse says there is a connection. she says pot has been rebranded as a relatively harmless medicine. and kids believe it. >> we are showing an increase on daily use of marijuana on all school grades 8, 10 and 12. >> reporter: there is a spike in kids using marijuana according to the institute. high school seniors now prefer dope over tobacco. >> there are more marijuana cigarette smokers in 12th great than nicotine cigarette smokers. >> reporter: teen brains are still developing and using drugs, even pot, can cause damage, even hook young kids. >> those kids that start taking marijuana before age 17 are much more likely to become dependent not just on marijuana but a wide variety of different drugs. >> reporter: medical experts say marijuana has become a big problem among teens in the bay area n part, because pot has become so normalized. you see it all over the news and it's often at home with parents using it to relax. you may suspect your kids smoke dope but you may not realize how much. >> thank you, kim. >>> baby

national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> next, live, your calls and comments on "washington journal ." then campaign spending in the 2010 elections and then a report by the national institute on drug abuse on teen drug use. >> the cspan networks providing coverage of politics, non-

a new report from the national institute on drug abuse says 16% of eighth graders have used illicit drugs this year. 21.4% of seniors said they smoked marijuana over the last ten days and just over 6% might have school seniors say they smoke pot early. doctors are worried with this kind of high use puts kids at particular risk long-term. however, the report did show bing drinking is on the decline in this age group. >>> tens of millions of americans have fillings in their teeth that contain a small amount of mercury. for decades there has ban debate over the fillings are safe and the fda is tackling this issue. >> reporter: he started breathing a whole lot better after having his fillings taken out. >> i had less symptoms. >> reporter: the fillings contain mercury and a year and a half ago the fillings were ruled safe. now they are reviewing the scientific evidence yet again. consumer advocacy groups claim mercury can trigger a host of health problems. even heart disease. >> that mercury is a hazardous material before it goes into the mouth. it has to be disposed of as hazerdous waste whe

volkof is the director of the national institute on drug abuse. thank you for joining us this evening. >> thanks for having me here. >> let's talk about marijuana use. an increase among a certain group of types. is there an added health risk since teens are develop something. >> particularly children and adolescents are the most sensitive to the potential toxic effects of drugs because their brain is still developing and many of these drugs directly target the proteins necessary for the brain to form normally and with these chemicals will have potential effect. >> and talk about the study that shows a spike in ecstasy use. what are the health cashes sworn the that? >> ecstasy is a drug that mixes -- and with stem lands, a drug recognized to be particularly toxic because it can produce the cells that are involved with seoen toin, the -- serotonin, the target for prozac and they regulate your mood and the destruction could lead to an increased risk of a disorder like depression and the use of the drug dramatically decreased over the past seven years

teens in all three grade exhibit more favorable attitudes towards the drug according to the national institute of on drug abuse. the drug czar blamed the rising use on publicity surrounding medical marijuana and marijuana was not the only drug that teen increasingly used during the past year. the study found that ecstacy rose in all three grades with increases among 8 and 10th graders. so alarming news for parents this morning. >>> now, maryland's most powerful doppler radar and the forecast certified most accurate by weatherate. >> good morning. k4r-6- 6:16. we are seeing cold but a lot of things to talk about for the upcoming week. we are dry right now. maryland's most powerful doppler radar and satellite showing clear skies. dropped to 19 in baltimore and it's 18 in york. 23 in easton and we have got teens and low 20s in for southern maryland with wind chills single digits to the scenes. feels like 11 right now. that's not the teens in easton. single digit wind chills on back towards our west. and essentially what we are looking at here is as we pull back. we have been talking about florida. look at their t

we will be joined by nora volkow, head of the national institute on drug abuse. the latest survey was released yesterday. "washington journal" is next. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] host: it promises to be quite the active day and the nation's capital as of this congressional lame duck session continues. one headline says the tax bill is stumbling toward a final vote. vote. it

we will be joined by nor of volkow, head of the national institute on drug abuse. "washington journal" is live on washington -- on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> students, parents, and teachers, what this studentcam competition injury a week away, we are offering their seminars with between 8:00 p.m. -- 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. eastern. document redentcam competition is open to middle and high school students. the deadline is january 20. for more affirmation, go to studentcam.org. >> according to the national institute on drug abuse, the debate on legalizing marijuana has had considerable fate on young people's view of the drug. marijuana use among adolescents continues to increase. this is about an hour. >> good morning. thank you for greater in the snow to come here this morning, or the ice, or water for you were faced with. i am the communique said she'd for the institute -- chief. thank you for coming. the monitoring the future survey is in its 36 the year, and once again, it was conducted by our colleagues at the university of michigan. overall, there

. >> according to the national institute on drug abuse, legalizing marijuana has the facts are on people's perception of the drug. this found that marijuana use among adolescents continues to increase. this is about an hour. >> good morning. thank you for brady and the snow. i am the communications chief for the national institute on drug abuse. this is one of the institute of the national institutes of health. thank you for coming. thank you for monitoring -- the survey as balance 36 the year, and it was conducted by our colleagues at the university of michigan. overall this year there were 46,482 students from 396 public and private schools in the eighth, 10th, and 12th grades. since 1975, the monitoring survey has mustered drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes in 12th graders nationwide. in 1991, eighth and 10th graders were added. many of you know this but i will repeat that this measures drug is encircled the freeways, primarily a lifetime, past year, past month, and in some cases daily use. we have some speakers for you and then we will open up for question. i like t

we will be joined by the head of the national institute on drug abuse. is livegton journal' every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. bacthe c-span video library is washington your way. >> this weekend, lewis married .- rose mary greenlee >> now a discussion of wikileaks' effect on journalism. panelists include -- this is about an hour. >> i like to acknowledge the dean of the school. but like to also introduce the vice chancellor. the presence of a true americanbefore we get started, i would say a word, and has been a sadambassador holbrooke passed away and we wanted to say here we are thinking about the family and all his friends. many of you have had the past. we are thinking about ambassador holbrooke. i would like to turn to bob schieffer and go from there. >> thank you. bowl. all season and it has worked. i would like to introduce -- this is the first year to have a semester in washington. our scholars who have been here, and laurence sanders -- lauren sanders who is interning here. [applause] we are happy to have making his first appearance as a palace. you

drug policy with the director of the office of white house drug policy as well as the national institute on drug abuse. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> good morning. thank you for greater in the snow to come here this morning, or the ice, or water for you were faced with. i am the communique said she'd for the institute -- chief. thank you for coming. the monitoring the future survey is in its 36 the year, and once again, it was conducted by our colleagues at the university of michigan. overall, there were 46,482 students from 396 public and private schools in the eighth, 10th, and 12th grades. the survey has measured drug, alcohol, and cigarette use, and related attitudes in 12th graders nationwide. in 1991, eighth and 10th graders were added. the survey measures drug use in several different ways, primarily lifetime, past year, past month, and in some cases, a daily use. we have speakers, then we will open it up for questions. how would like to introduce gil kerlikowske, director of the white house office of drug con