TEEN DRUG USE HOLDS STEADY

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Teen-age drug use held steady in 2000, the fourth
straight year it has either fallen or stayed the same, the federal
government reported yesterday.

Smoking dropped significantly but use of the club drug ecstasy climbed for
the second year in a row.

The annual Monitoring the Future survey, a study of teen drug, alcohol and
tobacco use, had mostly good news, with drops among eighth-, 10th-and
12th-graders. But it also found the number of high school seniors using
heroin hit its highest point since the survey began in 1975, and more
10th-graders are using steroids.