TROUBLING TREND

It was encouraging to learn that marijuana use by teen-agers has dropped
nationwide for a third straight year.

Unfortunately, statistics from a survey by the Partnership for a Drug-Free
America also showed use of "ecstasy," the so-called date-rape drug of the
1990s, has doubled among teens since 1995.

The survey of 7,290 U.S. students in grades 7 through 12 showed the
proportion of teens who had tried ecstasy at least once had increased from
7 percent to 10 percent over the past year.

While the small drop in marijuana use, from 41 to 40 percent is welcome,
the increase in the use of ecstasy is deeply troubling. Most commonly seen
in pill form, the dangerous drug can be made at home in liquid form.
Although billed as a natural or herbal drug, its effects range from
dizziness to seizures to coma to death.

These latest figures, particularly those on ecstasy use, underscore the
need for the nation to redouble its efforts to fight the drug war on
several fronts or find itself in grave danger of losing many of our
teen-agers to drugs.

Parents and peers must be part of the solution. No one has as much
influence on these youngsters as their mothers and fathers and their
friends. These teen-agers are our future and our most precious resource.
They must not be lost.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Partnership for a Drug-Free America
(www.drugfreeamerica.org) or the Office of National Drug Control Policy
(www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov).